Dating Isn't Just Fun And Games
by Ben Firebird
Summary: Doing a battle with the harvest Hibiki and Barnette are pull in to a situation where they a forced to rely on each other quite a bit.
1. Chapter 1

I'll always been a bit of a fan of Hibiki and Barnette together and seeing as nobody else has ever tried to write a fanfiction about them I thought I'll try giving it a shot.

Dating Isn't Just Fun And Games.

Chapter 1

"Damn it! There sure is a lot of these bastards this time around!" Hibiki shouted out angry.

Then used the Vanguard's sword to cut down one of the many cube types that was buzzing around all over the place. This whole battle was actually starting to annoying him quite a bit.

He had been tucked in and fast asleep when the alarm had sounded out through the Nirvana.

Yet when looking around it was pretty obvious that some of the female pilots wasn't really fighting as well as they used to, not one person onboard the Nirvana had been overly delighted when the Earth's damn forces had started attacking them in the middle of the night.

Yet even as his tired mind was thinking about that, he suddenly heard an all to familiar voice shouting from a certain red haired girl.

"Mr Alien lets hurry up and combine so we can't beat up all of these bad aliens!" Dita yelled, just as her blue Dread flew right past him where she shoot down two more of the cubes, still talking eagerly about how the two of them where going to beat them all.

Looking after the Dread for a few seconds Hibiki couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly. He really didn't get how in the heck somebody could be so overly giddy this late at night.

He honestly would prefer that she acted tired like everybody else around here. She simply had way to much energy right now and he frankly didn't feel like dealing with that at the moment.

"I'll beat them myself!" He loudly told the redhead.

Then rush off in the direction of yet another group of cubes hastily approaching the area, completely determined to tear each and everyone of them apart and make them regret attacking them at night.

Yet even as he continued bashing cube types left and right he meet up with one of the Nirvana's many Dreads. Fortunately much to his minor relief it was not one of those he could combine with.

He really didn't feel like dealing with any of those women right now, that however did not mean he was overly delighted about seeing this machine. Barnette and him might be on the same side in this.

But ever since her revolution he had been a bit more careful around her. He really didn't want to give the cranky green haired pilot any excuses to throw him back down in the brig again, one time had been bad enough.

He might think that most of the women on the Nirvana was more then a little crazy from time to time. Yet Barnette Orangello most definitely took the first place in the whole crazy department.

It was kinda like one wrong word to her would get all of them in a load of trouble, so he would honestly prefer to stay away from her.

Yet seeing as most of the cube types was coming from this direction he really didn't have a choice about where to go. "All of you bastards is going down I'll make sure of that!" He yelled out at the cube types.

"I don't understand why it's necessary for you to shout like that when we are in combat, couldn't you just beat them up and be quiet while doing it?" The green haired woman asked in a cranky tone, while firing all of her Dreads weapon at four incoming cube types.

Taking a glance over at the purple Dread Hibiki instantly felt a displeased frown appear on his forehead. "Well excuse me for yelling woman, I didn't realize that your huge ears was that sensitive!" He said, doing nothing to hide just how annoying he found this woman.

From time to time the green haired woman was even more irritating then Dita and Jura combined.

But while growling softly about the person he was now fighting next to he reached up with the left hand and pull out another sword which he instantly throw straight in to the closed one of the cube types which was hastily approaching them.

Hearing that moron say that her ears where big Barnette didn't hesitate even one second about turning all of her attention away from the battle, and over at the yellow colour Mecha.

"My ears are not big you damn imbecile!" She yelled loudly at him. While promising herself to give him a good beating once the battle was over and they got back to the Nirvana.

She just couldn't tolerate the idea that this stupid idiot of a man was actually imprudent enough to say that her ears where huge. Nobody else had ever said something that mean to her.

And she was most definitely going to make him pay once all of this was over, that much was certain.

Yet as she was thinking about what kind of punishment she was going to give the idiot, Meia's Dread suddenly appeared from above where she instantly shoot down three of the cubes.

"Would the two of you please stop arguing already, we are in the middle of a battle here! So if it's not to much to ask could you please put your fight on hold until we get back to the ship!" The light blue haired woman said in a tone.

Which was more then enough to tell both Hibiki and Barnette, that the Dread leader was running kinda low on patience with them right now.

But before either the short tempered woman or man had the chance to give Meia a response. A certain red Dread flew in between them where it hurried destroyed a few cubes, as the blond woman piloting that Dread began telling Meia her opinion about their quarreling.

"Why don't you just let them argue Meia? I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it quite entertaining listening to them" Jura said in a tone, which was more then enough to make it completely obvious to all of them out there.

That she was really looking forward to tease both the male pilot and her best friend with this, once they had done reducing all of these annoying cube types to nothing more then useless crap.

Taking a brief glance away from the many cubes and over at the red Dread currently floating not far beside her, Meia began talking in a deep highly serious tone.

"It's actually quite simple Jura, the reason why they need to stop arguing, is because they could end up getting either injure or even killed while they are so busy with yelling at each other over the most trivial things!" The Dread leader said, then rushed off to greet the next group of cubes.

Looking after the silver coloured Dread for a few seconds. Barnette got a highly pissed off look, in both of her eyes. "My ears are definitely not trivial" she whispered to herself, before following her best friend and Meia towards the hastily approaching enemy machines.

Watching the very person he had been yelling at fly off like that Hibiki couldn't help but sigh loudly. "I really don't understand women! Why is it necessary for them to get all rattle up about every single thing like their noses and ears?" He asked out loud.

Unfortunately for him he did not realize that every woman currently present there could easily hear everything he had just said.

And it took least then a second before he heard Barnette's angry voice shout out a few unhappy words for that remark. "So what you are saying now is that my nose is big too? You just wait you bastard if the cubes doesn't kill you I certainly will!" She determinedly promised the boy over in the Vanguard.

Hearing her threaten him like that Hibiki of course saying a few things back to the green haired woman. "I never said anything like that, what I said was that all of you women complain way to much, especially you!" The dark blue haired boy yelled back.

Which resulted in that the two of them where soon fighting even more with each other, then the large amount of enemy cubes in the area.

Not knowing if it was even worth trying to stop the two of them again.

Meia Gisborn slowly reached up and rubbed her forehead in a frustrated manner. She quite frankly didn't understand why it was necessary for Barnette and Hibiki to arguing like this, when they where practically surround by cube types.

Didn't they realize what kinda of situation they where in right now.

Yet after listening to them a bit more and hearing Barnette call Hibiki an idiot the light blue haired woman slowly rolled her eyes, then fired a few shots in the direction where she could see the most cubes.

"Dita! Jura you two should try and get around them and flank them from behind, the rest of us will keep them distract while you do that!" Meia ordered. Just as every other girl out there shouted out a loud roger.

Then without even sparing the purple Dread and the Vanguard a second look all of the Dreads rushed forward towards the enemy machines.

They did however not get very far before Meia noticed something else that was now slowly making it's way towards them. And it was only after she had successfully evade a minor bunch of attacks from the cubes that she was able to see what it was.

In her eyes it looked mostly like and enormous mirror of some kind, which was actually more then a little weird. She just didn't understand, what kind of purpose this thing could have.

And it was only when she heard Jura's voice that she was able to snap back out of her thoughts. "Ah how pretty I wish I had something like that in my room! Instead of that small one I have there now!" Jura said wishfully.

Yet as harmless as this thing might look right now, Meia knew that it was very wise to see this thing as hostile. "I'm sorry Jura but you have to look for a new mirror elsewhere, we are taking this thing out immediately! But try and be careful when attacking it, we have no idea about what it can do!" Meia said.

Then instantly started making her way towards the enormous mirror with everybody else following not far behind her. Yet when they got a little closer to the thing she suddenly saw it light up in a blood red colour.

"Try and get around it and attack it from behind" she order while firing a few beams straight at the mirror, not realizing that she actually succeeded in making the glass on it crack up slightly when her shots hit it.

That however did not slowly down the machine at all it just continued gathering together energy for it's attack or whatever it was trying to do. But before any of them had much time to wonder about it the red light suddenly disappeared in to the glass.

Which was a clear sign in Meia's eyes that the weapon was now ready to be used. "Everybody get behind it now!" She ordered in a serious tone, while she and all of the other girls hurried made their way to the back of the mirror.

But as they where doing that two certain people had not realized what kind of danger they where in at the moment. They where simply to caught up in their argument to notice the strange looking weapon that was now there.

Yet it was only when Meia had successfully gotten around the huge mirror that she saw what it was aiming at. "Hibiki, Barnette! What in the world are you two doing get moving now!" She yelled out after them.

But her warning came a few seconds to late, for when the last word had left her mouth the mirror thing fired an nasty looking red beam straight at the Vanguard and the Dread, who had noway of getting out of the line of fire.

"MR ALIEN!" Dita cried out in a loud panicking tone, just as Jura yelled out after Barnette.

There was however nothing that could be done about it now, the huge red beam hit both of the machine making everybody that was watching this think that the beam was actually consuming both of them.

And their loud screams served as a deeply painful reminder that there was nothing they could do to help them at the moment. "Damn it, we just have to do something Meia!" One of the other Dread pilots yelled, sincerely hoping that their leader had some kind of idea to save both Barnette and Hibiki.

Yet as much as Meia truly wanted to do something to save them. She honestly had no idea about what to do in this situation. Seeing as they had no knowledge about what exactly it was, the weapon was doing to them.

So she didn't give the concerned girl a reply as she continued staring intensely at the huge mirror.

And only after two long minutes that felt an awful lot like an eternity. The bright red beam finally started fading away, only to stop completely a few long seconds later, where much to all of their shock and surprise they saw both the Dread and the Vanguard completely intact, it was almost like nothing at all had happened to the two war machine.

"Huh what in the world is this?" Jura asked in a small yet worried tone.

She really didn't understand what was going on. As much as she hated to admit it, the blond girl had honestly believed, that the frightening red beam would have been the end of both Barnette and Hibiki.

Yet from what she was able to tell from there, they where both all right even after that attack.

"Mr...Mr Alien" Dita mumbled softly obviously quite relieved that the male pilot was all right.

But it did not take long before their worries return when they heard BC call out after the two pilots and there was no response from any of them, which was enough to tell them all that something was still very wrong about all of this.

Yet even as the second in command kept on trying to get in contact with the two pilots. The captain made the decision that it was properly wise to get the Dread and Vanguard, onboard the Nirvana as quickly as possible.

"Meia please hurry and get rid of those cube types and that mirror so we can get Gascogne out there to pick up our two short fused pilots!" Magno said clearly more then a little concerned about Hibiki's and Barnette's safety.

She seriously didn't like that it seemed pretty much impossible to get in contact with any of them. So they just had to hurry up and get both of them back here so they could get whatever medical attention they required.

Instantly realizing that the captain was right about them needing to get Barnette and Hibiki back to the Nirvana in a hurry. She shouted out a few simple commands to the still highly rattled up Dread team.

"Lets get them girls and make sure that you keep them away from Barnette and the Vanguard!" She said then rushed off after the mirror. Wanting to make absolutely certain that thing couldn't do anymore damage then it had already done.

Seeing where their leader was heading the other girls snapped back to reality, then hurried took off after the silver coloured Dread.

000000

It was about twenty minutes later when the two silent crafts was cautiously brought in to the Nirvana's giant hangar.

With almost every crew member on board watching with a deeply worried expression on their faces, as each an every one of them wondered if their two friends was going to be all right.

And once the male craft and the female craft was place securely on the floor the captain, Duelo and Parfet rushed full speed over to the machines to try and get them open.

"Please hurry up Parfet, there is no telling what kind of condition they are in right now!" The captain said. While the glass wearing girl immediately started working on getting the Dread open.

Which only took a few long tense minutes, yet the sight that meet them once the inside of the purple Dread was revealed was more then enough to make more then a few loud gasp ran through the hangar.

And it took even least time before they all heard a certain red haired girl cry out two words loudly. "MR ALIEN!" Dita shouted so loud that everybody present there could easily hear her.

And as the large amount of tears began making their way down the redhead's face, the captain turned her sadden gazes downwards towards the floor. "Let me guess the Vanguard is empty too right?" She asked quietly.

While looking straight at Gascogne who slowly nodded yes a single time to that question. Not doing anything to hide, how utterly sadden she was over losing both Barnette and her favorite poker buddy.

"But...but where are they? What happened to them!" Jura sobbed loudly, while a bunch of tears was now running slowly down both of her cheeks.

Not at all sure what to say to her, Parfet looked a few seconds at the purple Dread and then at the Vanguard. "I don't know, I really don't know! Their bodies could have been dissolved when the beam hit them, or perhaps they where actually teleport somewhere else most likely earth, it was after all a new harvest weapon so they might use it to gather humans in a new way!" She said, not doing anything to stop the many tears that was leaving her eyes.

She truly didn't like being the bear of such bad news. Especially not when they had all thought that they where ok. Since the Dread and the Vanguard had been intact after the bright red attack was finished.

Hearing what might have happened to Mr Alien, Dita just couldn't stand to be down there any longer so without saying a word to anybody she turned around on one foot and stormed hastily out of the room, sobbing loudly the entire time.

Seeing the redhead leave in such a manner, Magno gave her lower lips a hard displeased bite. "Are there anyway Parfet for you to figure out for sure what happened to them. If those two are still alive out there somewhere we are definitely going to find them!" Magno said determinedly.

Seriously hoping that it would not be necessary for them to go all the way to earth to find Hibiki and Barnette again.

Getting a somewhat thoughtful look on her face Parfet took of her round glasses then used her left sleeve to remove the many tears on her face.

"Well don't know if it would tell us anything. But we could try and analyze that mirror thing maybe by doing that we could figure out what happened to them" The girl said in a tone that made it clear for all of them, that she wasn't entirely sure this was actually going to work.

Looking at the clever girl for a small moment or two Magno nodded slowly in understanding. "I see, well then lets stop wasting time my ladies and get the rest of the mirror on board, we have to find our two sour heads and get them out of whatever trouble they are in now" the older woman said, then turned around and started making her way out of the room.

Doing her best not to show any of the girls down there, just how worried she truly was about her two crew members. Each and every one on board the Nirvana was after just like her family or children, and no sane parent would ever want to see their kids getting hurt in anyway.

But even as she was trying so hard, Gascogne could of course easily tell just how much this was bothering her mother figure. And with that in mind she turned around and looked at the other girls down there.

"All right girls listen up, we all heard her so let hurry up and get back to work, there is a lot of things we need to do now. And all of you who got nothing to do go get some rest, I'm pretty certain that all of you could really use it!" She said, in the most kind tone she could muster under the circumstances.

Yet as she stood there watching all of the girls work she hurried call both Ezra and Meia over to her. "Ezra could you please look in on Dita I'm kinda worried about her, I don't think I have ever seen her so sad before! And if it's all right with you Meia? I would like for you to keep Jura company a bit. I honestly don't think any of them, should be alone at a time like this!" She explained with a far away look in both of her eyes.

Not at all sure what to say at first Ezra found herself nodding yes to everything Gascogne had just said. "I'll go down to her room immediately, I was planing on doing that anyway" she mumbled in a badly understandable tone, then slowly walked the rest of the way out of the hangar.

"I'll look in on Jura too" Meia said, sounding somewhat more down to earth about the whole matter, then any of the other women down there.

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

I forget to mention in the last chapter that I don't own anything Vandread related but you guys already knew that.

Chapter 2

If there was one thing Hibiki Tokai liked to do other then stuffing his face with whatever food Dita made for him.

Then it was getting a good long night of sleep without the redhead or anybody else disturbing him. But even true he would honestly have preferred to keep on sleeping for a few hours longer, the bright light that was currently shining down in to his face did disturb him quite a bit.

Which made him move around a bit, in an attempt to try and find a more comfortable position on the nice soft thing he was presently resting so peacefully on.

And when he finally succeeded in find a bit of shade from the highly annoying sun, the boy instantly let out a deep content sigh as he kept on sleeping so calmly on the soft cushion like thing beneath his head.

He did however only get a few minutes of rest before somebody gave his left foot a small kick. "Hey kid! What are you and your girlfriend, doing sleeping out here in my yard?" A angry male voice asked him quite loudly.

Hearing that Hibiki slowly opened both of his eyes where the very first thing he saw was two round soft looking things a couple of centimeters away from his face.

At first the boy had no idea about what they where. And it took his highly aching mind a few seconds to realize what exactly it was he was getting a pretty good view of right now.

It was two of those round things most of the women on the Nirvana was carrying around on their chest. And when that realization enter his mind the boy immediately flew up in to a sitting position, where he saw that it was Barnette he had been sleeping on top of.

Yet once he noticed that she was still sound asleep he couldn't help but sigh a bit in relief. "Damn that's good! If she had been awake she would properly have kill me for using her as a pillow" the young man whispered quietly to himself, while looking the scary girl over for any signs of injuries.

Yet from what he was able to tell there was nothing wrong with the highly cranky woman, which was also a big relief to him.

He and Barnette might not always get along with each other, but that certainly did not in anyway mean he wanted anything bad to happen to her.

They where after all on the same side against the harvest, and like every other men, he was completely determined to look after his comrades no matter how irritating they truly where.

Yet while he was checking-up on the annoying woman, the old man which garden they had been sleeping in, started running kinda low out of patient.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you boy, while you are so caught up in looking your girlfriend over in that skimpy outfit! But would you mind telling me what the two of you are doing out here?" The man asked in a loud tone, which made Barnette turn over on to her left side where she continued sleeping calmly.

And the sight of her doing that made a small vein appear on Hibiki's forehead.

Why the heck did this woman have to continue sleeping like this. When the old guy was obviously more then ready to start beating them up with the rusty old rake he was holding on to.

So after using a few seconds to just glare at Barnette. He once more turned his gazes up at the angry man who still looked quite displeased with having two complete stranges, using his lovely garden as a temporary bedroom for the night.

"Well you see gramps we kinda ended up here by accident. So if you could tell us the quickest way out of this place, we will leave as soon as I wake her up" the boy said while taking a look around the garden, to try and figure out where the heck he and Barnette was.

Unfortunately the many pretty flowers and huge trees didn't really tell him anything, which meant that it did not take long before he was again looking back at the grey haired man who still looked more then a little pissed off.

"If it's not too much to ask gramps do you mind telling us where we are?" He asked in a friendly tone, while taking a glance at the rake the old fellow was still holding on to.

That thing might not be the most dangerous weapon in existence. But he seriously did not feel like getting hit from something like that, so if the old guy was out to hurt them he definitely had to make sure to keep Barnette out of danger as long as she was still out.

Still glaring angrily at the kid, the old man slowly reached up and scratch his beard in a thoughtful way, as he tried to figure out if he should give the kid a response or just chase them away.

But after looking at the kid a bit more. He was able to tell that he was quite confused about where exactly he and the girl was. And not really all that keen on the idea of doing any real harm to the two kids, he decided that he might as well give the boy a reply.

"Well the two of you are currently in my garden, which a located in the city Blossom!" The old man explained, still keeping a very close eye on the two teenagers.

Not having any idea about what to say to that, Hibiki thought hard about where the hell Blossom was. But before he could actually ask the old man about it. Barnette slowly got up from her position and did it for him instead.

"So just where precisely is this Blossom?" She asked in a small tone, as she reached up to rub some of the sleep out of her eyes.

Looking at her for a long moment or two, the old man couldn't help but shake his head slightly. "God! The two of you most really have been drunk when you stumble in here last night!" He said. Doing nothing to hide how utterly stupid he thought it was, when young people was willing to actually poison their brains in such away that they couldn't even figure out where they were.

But as foolish as he thought they where, he decided that it was most likely best to give them an answer, before they got in even more trouble. "Well Blossom happens to be located on the planet Romanchikku. Which some of the more young people, also refer to as the planet of love. But I guess that dependents on how you look at it" He said, sounding a tiny bit more friendly now then before.

Taking a look over at each other both Hibiki and Barnette could not help but wonder just how far away they where from the Nirvana right now.

"So do you know of a place where we could stay for a few days? We are kinda far away from home at the moment" Barnette explained. Doing her best to remain as calm as possible under the circumstance.

Even true she could not deny that there was a huge part of her that was practically screaming at her to jump on Hibiki and beat the living daylight out of him. But after think about that for a bit, she decided that she could always do that later when that old guy wasn't around to see it.

Not saying anything at first the old guy could not help but think about how far out of place these two teenagers where. They almost behaved like they had never heard of Blossom or even Romanchikku, and it honestly freaked him out quite a bit.

Yet before he could tell them to hurry up and leave his garden. His wife of many years, decided to cut in to the conversation.

"Well if you two kids really does need a place to stay, you are welcome to stay with us. Just as long as you help out in the garden! My husband and I are getting way to old to handle it all on our own" the woman said in a kind voice.

Which made both Hibiki and Barnette look over at her. Both trying hard to decide, if they should accept the older woman's kind offer. So still not totally sure it was wise to trust her so easily, Barnette moved a bit closer to Hibiki.

"What do you think we should do?" She whispered to him. Not at all sure, it was even worth the trouble, asking the moron about this. Seeing as he would most likely not even think about the question and just say yes immediately.

Yet much to her minor surprise, he actually did seem to be considering the whole thing very thoroughly.

"Well I don't really know about you. But I'm actually starting to get quite hungry, so I think we should stay here at least for now" he said back in a quiet yet thoughtful tone, which was more then enough to tell Barnette that he took this entire mess they where presently in very serious.

And as much as Barnette truly hated the idea of actually agreeing with this overly stubborn man, she found herself nodding slowly in agreement. "All right I guess we'll stay here for the time being. But we better keep an eye on them incase they suspect where we are from" she whispered to him.

While taking a brief glance upwards at the bright blue sky, before she again looked back at Hibiki, who just nodded slowly to everything she had just said.

And with that decision made, they once more turned their attention back towards the older couple. "We gladly accept your kind offer" Barnette said, trying to sound as friendly as possible, even true she still didn't completely trust the man and woman.

Truly happy to hear that the lady smiled brightly at them as she reached down to help Barnette up. "That's great news my dear, now let go back to the house and find some least revealing clothes, you should only wear those things when you and your boyfriend are having fun at home!" The older lady said.

Not noticing the highly puzzled looks the young man and woman was now giving each other.

"What is a boyfriend?" Barnette softly asked Hibiki making sure that neither one of the old people could hear what she was saying.

Thinking about that question for a few seconds Hibiki made a sign that told her that he didn't know that either. "How the heck should I know, I never once heard that word before" he whispered back to her.

Then once more start listening to the old woman talk, who was still busy explaining to them, how absolutely impudent Barnette's clothes was. And that she should not wear something so utterly revealing in public.

So after listening to her a bit longer, the green haired woman lean over towards Hibiki and whispered another question to him. "What's wrong with my clothes? Back home this is the newest fashion" she said.

Getting more and more pissed off over the way that old woman kept on telling her, how bad her clothes was. And that she should not ever walk around in something like that outside.

Not sure what to say about that either, Hibiki couldn't help but take a look at Barnette in her mostly purple outfit.

Where he of course could not help but take notice, of how much of her skin was shown, which honestly made him wonder how she and all the other women back on the Nirvana, could avoid freezing to death when walking around in those skimpy clothes.

Yet when he saw her narrow both of her eyes slightly, he realized that it was properly best to hurry up and give her an answer before she did something highly painful to him.

So after thinking about it a bit longer, he decided that he might as well just tell her what he thought about her dress style. "I honestly don't really think there is anything wrong with you clothes Barnette, they suit you pretty well" he softly whispered back to her.

Not even realizing that he had just given the green haired woman he fought so frequently with a small compliment.

Pleased to know that there was some people around that actually appreciated her dress style, even if it was just this highly stupid male.

But knowing that it was kinda rare that Hibiki said something nice to her.

Barnette smiled slightly at the annoying boy, before she once more turned her attention back towards the older woman. That by now, was busy telling them just what their responsibility would be around the garden.

Not that Hibiki or Barnette was paying all that much attention to that. They where each far more occupied with thinking about where they were and how exactly they could get back to the Nirvana and the others.

Unfortunately as luck would have it, none of them had any kind of answer to the insanely many questions, that was currently zooming through their minds. So each of them just continued following the older woman with a far away expression on their faces.

And it was only once they arrived at the huge house, the older couple was living in, that they finally snapped back out of their thoughts. "Please come on inside, I'll go see if our daughter left some of her clothes here, the last time she visited!" The small grey haired woman said, then she reached out and opened the door to the lovely house.

Leading her husband and the two teenagers inside, where immediately she asked them to wait in the living room while she took a look around her daughter's room for something else, Barnette could wear instead of her usual outfit.

Once gone. Hibiki slowly took a look around at the many pictures and other things that was use to liven up the living room. "I never seen so many pictures all at once before, back home there isn't a whole lot of people who actually likes to paint all that much!" He said in a loud tone.

Showing a rare interested in something else other then his Vanguard, stuffing his face or playing cards with Gascogne.

And seeing him actually studying the many pictures so thoroughly, was frankly a bit amazing to Barnette.

Seeing as she had never once seen Hibiki behave like this before. She had honestly never thought that art was so rare on Taraak, that even somebody like Hibiki had a bit of an interested in it.

So after watching him look around so eagerly Barnette too let her eyes travel around the room. Art such like this, wasn't really all that rare on Mejere as it apparently was on Taraak.

But even she was somewhat astounded by the beauty of this many pictures.

Yet with both of them so caught up in looking around in there.

Neither of them noticed that the old man didn't look nearly as angry anymore as he had when they had first shown up in his garden, he was actually quite pleased that there was young people around, that appreciated art as much as he and his wife did.

And just the sight of them looking around like they did was more then enough to remove some of the distrust and make him smile a bit. Perhaps these two kids wasn't as bad as he had original thought.

But as Barnette and Hibiki stood there beside each other carefully look the large amount of pictures over. Neither of them noticed the old woman step in to the room again, where she immediately made her way over to Barnette carrying a fresh set of clothes.

"Here you go dear! Please go in to the next room and change" she said, sounding just a tiny bit bossy when she said that.

And knowing that it would not do her any good to disagree with her. Barnette slowly reached out and took the offered clothes, then turned around and left the room without saying a word.

And once the green haired girl had stepped out of the room, the old woman immediately turned her attention over on Hibiki. "So my dear what are your names? And where do you come from?" She kindly asked him.

Somewhat baffled over how the heck he was suppose to answer the last question, the Vanguard pilot slowly reached up and scratch his dark blue hair in a thoughtful manner.

"Well my name is Hibiki and the girl is call Barnette!" He said making the decision that it was properly best not to tell them their last names. Not that he actually knew Barnette's last name.

Seeing as they could badly have a conversation together without arguing.

He had never really bother taking the time to actually learn her last name. He always figured, that there would never come a time, where he actually had a use for that knowledge, yet now he sincerely hoped that they wouldn't ask about it.

Fortunately the lack of their last names didn't really seem to bother the old man and woman very much, they just kept on smiling kindly at him.

Just as Barnette once more enter the lovely decorator living room. Now dressed in a dark green blouse, that actually seemed to match her hair pretty well and a dark pair of pants that seemed a bit to long for her.

Not that Hibiki paid much attention to that, he was just glad that she was back there so he would not have to answer all of their question all on his own.

Yet the next thing the woman asked them, send a minor shock through each of them. "So just how long have the two of you been dating? You truly do make a lovely couple now that you are standing there together" the older woman said.

Then tilted her head a bit to the side as she continued looking straight at the two young people in front of her.

Taking a small glance over at the huge moron next to her, Barnette got a somewhat nauseous expression on her face. "Dating! We are not dating!" She said sounding more then a little insulted over that they would actually think she would go out with him.

But before Hibiki could do anything to show that he actually agreed with Barnette for a change. He noticed that both the man and the woman, was now sending them a deep angry glare.

"You really shouldn't joke around with that girl, you should both know what the penalty is for not being in a relationship!" The woman said sounding highly displeased with what Barnette had just said a few seconds ago.

Taking yet another tiny nervous glance over at each other, the Vanguard pilot made a small swallowing sound as he took a single step forward where he reluctantly asked the old couple the one thing he and Barnette wanted answers to now.

"And...mhhm what exactly is the penalty for not being in a relationship?" He asked in a somewhat worried tone.

Smiling slightly at him the older woman shook her head slowly, as she gave them a response to what she thought was a highly weird question. "Why public execution of course" she told the two of them in a tone, that made it sound like killing people for something like that, was the most natural thing ever.

Completely taken back by the newest, that if they where not in a relationship on this up until now friendly world they where as good as dead.

So while trying to get over the enormous shock the kind old lady had given him in a hurry. Hibiki took a brief glance back at Barnette, who looked even more rattled up over this then he was.

And it was only when the grey haired woman asked them one more time, how long they had been together. That Barnette Orangello was somehow able to shake off the highly immense shock, which she had gotten only a few seconds ago.

She just couldn't believe that they would actually get kill for not being in a relationship, what kind of totally messed up place had they ended up on. "Well Hibiki and I have been going out for about five years now!" Barnette said.

Easily making the decision, that she would much rather lie to the sweet old couple, then being executed for something so absolutely ridiculous.

And when she noticed Hibiki taking a brief glance back at her. She instantly gave the boy a small sign that was meant to tell him to play along.

Which much to her deep relief he understood almost immediately. "Yea...Yeah! The two of us have been dating as long as I remember!" He said a bit more loudly then Barnette thought was necessary.

Yet fortunately the both of for them, the man and woman seemed to believe their little lie about being together. Especially the old lady seemed to find it very romantic that they had been seeing each other for such a long time.

"Ahh that's so sweet, the two of you really do look happy together, the only other couple that fit each other so well are my daughter and her lover!" She said in a high excited tone.

Then gave both of them a bright happy smile, as she turned around and took a brief look back at a small photograph of her and her son-in-law the day they had been married.

Not really caring if Barnette and him where and adorable couple or not.

Hibiki slowly moved his left hand up to remove a few drops of sweat, from his forehead.

"Yeah they truly do look quite nice together. By the way do you have a place where we could relax a bit? It's been a couple of stressful days for both of us" the dark blue haired boy asked.

Highly eager to get away from the two old people so he could speak with Barnette about what the hell they where suppose to do now. He frankly didn't know about her.

But he was already looking forward to the day when they could get away from this planet.

In his eyes they where even more messed up here on this world, then they had been back on Anpathos. And that was saying quite a lot since he had honestly thought that those people back there, had been as insane as they could possibly be, with all of them believing that the harvest fleet was actually their God.

Yet as he was thinking about how the heck a world could function when being single was punishable by death. The old woman gave each of them a kind smile as she began making her way over to the door.

"Of course I have a place where you can rest up. You can always start working on the garden tomorrow" she told them in a kind voice. Not realizing that both of the teens, was still more then a little rattled up by the whole execution thing.

So without even saying one word as gratitude. They just quietly followed her out of the room and then out of the house. Both of them just walking slowly beside each other, as they tried their best to make just a little sense in the completely ridiculous law this planet had for single people.

Yet as much as they would each like a little peace and quiet to think about everything they had learnt, they didn't really get a whole lot of time to do it before the grey haired woman interrupted their highly bewildered thoughts.

"Here we are now, the two of you can stay here until you find a new place to live" she kindly said to them, while presenting a nicely white painted house to the two of them. It was noway nearly as large as the last one they had seen, but it was still looked extremely homely and highly expensive.

And even true both pilots, where still trying to get over everything that had been happening around them, since they ended up on this crazy planet.

None of them could deny how pleasantly surprise they where over the fact, that the sweet old couple was so willing to let them use a place as nice as this. "Wow that house is really great, it's so much bigger then the one grandpa and I used to live in back home!" Hibiki said in a loud excited tone.

Which was just enough to pull Barnette out of her astonishment. And make her turn around where she immediately smiled gratefully at the older woman. "Yeah thank very much for letting us borrow this place, we really appreciate it" she said.

Doing nothing to hide, how thankful she over the fact that she and big fool had a place to spend the night. There was simply noway she wanted to sleep outside when they knew nothing about, what kind of animals was living on this world.

Still smiling sweetly at them the old woman just nodded a single time. "You are welcome Barnette. Just make sure that you get a good nights sleep and that you don't use the entire night to show each other how you feel" she said.

Then gave them a short wink, that made both pilots look over at each other a brief second before they quickly looked away again.

Each of them highly disturbed by what the woman was hinting to them. And they had to fight really, really hard to ignore those feelings, that was practically screaming at them to tell the old woman that they did not want to be anywhere near each other.

Yet they both knew that if they did something like that they would most likely end up seeing what sick method they used on this planet to execute people.

And with that in mind Barnette smiled gently at the grey haired woman. "We'll make sure to get plenty rest, so please don't worry about that! By the way I have been meaning to ask for some time now, but what is you and your loves names?" She asked with a slightly curious look on her face.

"Ohhh! Right we haven't told you that yet, my name is Selphy and my husband's is George! He might be a little cranky at times, but that just means something isn't going the way he wants it, that's something that can bother him quite a bit, so just leave him alone when he is like that" she said kindly, before she turned around and started making her way back to the mansion.

Watching her leave like that Barnette made sure that she was out of earshot before she said a few simple words to the male standing next to her. "Let's get inside fool we got a lot to talk about!" She said, while giving Hibiki a small push in the direction of the house.

And it wasn't long after that.

Before the young man and woman stepped inside the house that was going to be their home for who knew how long. "This place isn't bad at all, I could totally get use to living here!" Hibiki said in a loud tone, while taking a look around the living room.

Yet as he was so distract by everything in there.

He didn't noticed the way Barnette was glaring at him and that she was currently moving closer to him, which meant that it did not take many seconds before she was standing directly behind him, where she slowly lift her hand and gave him a highly painful slap at the back of his head.

"OUCH! What the heck was that for?" He asked unhappily, while looking back at the obviously pissed off woman. Who looked more then ready, to give him a few more whacks.

And realizing that he quickly moved away from her, not wanting to make himself an easy target for the girl's wrath.

But as he was doing that, Barnette continued glaring straight at him. "I did that because you said my nose and ears where big! And also because, it's you fault that we ended up on this crazy planet! If you hadn't distract me back then I would never have been hit by that damn mirror!" She shouted. Then made a small cracking sound with her hands.

Hearing what exactly it was the woman was blaming him for, Hibiki instantly got an angry look in both of his eyes. "Hey! It was you that started yelling at me first! So if it's anybody's fault that we where an easy target for that mirror it's yours Barnette!" He said back, while squeezing his fist together in a angry manner.

Not at all pleased that the damn idiot was talking back to her like that, Barnette took a small step closer to him as she reached down and picked up a brown hard looking cushion from the couch.

"Shut the hell up Hibiki! Or I swear that I'm going to kill you!" She said in a voice, that made it kinda hard to figure out if she was actually serious about that.

But in the end, Hibiki quickly reached the decision that he didn't really care all that much if she was serious or not. He was a male and he was completely determined to keep on fighting to the bitter end.

"Just bring bitch!" He yelled back at her, while getting in to the martial art stance Meia had taught him after that one time he had gotten beaten up by Rabat.

Realizing that the stupid fool wasn't going to take the blame for this. The green haired girl change her hold on the cushion slightly, then pull her hand back and throw it with full force straight at him.

Yet just when it seemed like she was going to hit his face he ducked down under the attack, so the cushion flew in and hit a picture frame on the wall instead, sending it falling to the floor.

Not that any of the teens cared about that right now. They where simply far more busy with their calm and peaceful discussion, about who where to blame for getting them in to this mess in the first place.

And if somebody had actually walked past the small house. They would easily have been able to hear a lot of loud shouting and a minor bunch things being broken in there.

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Yet while the two distressed pilots was caught up in their conversation.

Neither one of them knew that they where actually the main subject of a very important discussion.

"Well you see captain the reason why I call you and everybody else down here is because I just finished my analyze of the mirror" Parfet Balblair said while adjusting her glass a tiny bit.

Taking a small glance away from the girl and down at the broken up mirror, the captain used her cane to give one of the mirror pieces a light push. "So Parfet do you have any idea about what happened to the two of them?" The older woman asked.

Not totally sure she actually wanted an answer from the girl. If those two really where dead, then she honestly had know idea about what the hell she was suppose to say to the crew, it had already shake most of them up quite a bit when Hibiki and Barnette had disappeared like they had.

Fortunately the chief engineer's next words did calm her down greatly. "From what I have been able to figure out this weapon is suppose to teleported every living thing it hits to earth. But thanks to the minor damage Meia inflicted on the mirror just before it fired, there is a high possibility that Barnette and Hibiki was only send about halfway there!" Parfet explained.

Hearing that, a certain red haired girl took a single step forward. "Does that mean that Mr Alien is still alive?" She asked in a loud excited voice.

Turning her attention away from the captain and over at the redhead, Parfet gave her extremely happy friend a small smile. "Yeah Dita! Both him and Barnette should be perfectly fine" the glass wearing girl said, truly delight over giving all of her friends such good news.

Yet while all of them where letting out a few relief sighs.

The happy moment was soon brought to an end by a few words from Meia. "Unless the two of them haven't kill each other yet. Knowing Barnette she should be just about ready to strangle Hibiki by now" she said in her usual calm tone.

Which made all of them down there look over at her. Each of them somewhat worried that she might be right about this. Barnette and Hibiki had pretty much been at each other throats almost constantly ever since their first battle with a harvest flagship.

And now that there was nobody around to step in between them.

There was a very large possibility that Hibiki would end up with more then one or two bruises. "To hell with it! I really should have talked with the two of them about all of arguing" Magno said, while rubbing her forehead in a frustrated manner.

She did however not do that for long, before she once more turned her tired old gazes back towards Parfet. "So do you have any idea about how long it will take for us to reach that place they ended up?" She asked.

Highly worried about just how long their two short tempered crew members would have to be alone together.

And having already realized long before she call everybody else down to the hangar. That there was an extremely high possibility that the ship's captain or somebody else would ask about that.

The chief engineer took a somewhat brief nervous look glance down at the mechanical card she was holding.

"Well...well the thing is guys! I already tried calculating the distance between us and them a bunch of times. And as far as I can tell it will take us about two or three months to reach that planet, the two of them landed on" the engineer said.

Not overly surprised by all of the shocked looks she was now receiving from all of the people gather around her. "What you mean that Mr Alien has to be alone with Barnette for such a long time?" Dita asked, sounding a tiny bit like she was just about ready to started crying once more.

Feeling slightly guilty about having to tell her red haired friend this. Parfet moved her right hand up and scratched her long brown hair a bit while at the same time giving her low lips a light bite.

"I'm really sorry Dita. But try and look on the bright side, they could have been send all the way to earth, where they would properly have been harvest. At least now we have the possibility to go rescue them, even true it might take some time!" The clever girl said.

Sincerely hoping that her few reassuring words would help Dita calm down just a bit.

But it didn't really seem like the redhead was listening to her. She just continued standing there with her both hands fold, muttering quietly about how unfair it was that it had been Barnette, who had been teleported with Mr Alien to another world.

Looking at the low spirited Dread pilot for a brief moment, the captain did feel slightly sorry for the redhead. But there wasn't really a whole lot she could do about it right now, other then hope that Dita would somehow be able to handle the next many weeks without having Hibiki around.

So after watching the girl a bit longer, Magno let out a deep worn out sigh, as she once more turned her gazes over at Parfet. "Well it would seem very much like our two nut cases have send us out on quite the detour, I better hurry up and make sure that the rest of the crew knows what our next move are going to be" the old lady said.

Then turned and began slowly making her way towards the exit of the hangar. Muttering a few words about how their two battle crazy morons, had better be all right once they reached whatever world the two of them where currently on.

Once gone. Dita instantly looked back at the Dread leader with a sad look on her face. "But what if something bad happens to Mr Alien and we are not there to help him out?" She asked in a slightly panicking voice.

Yet somewhat surprisingly to all of them it wasn't Meia that answered the question.

Instead Jura took a small step forward and place a hand on the UFO crazy girl's shoulder, which she immediately gave a gentle reassuring squeeze. "I don't think you should worry so much about him! I know that Barnette and him, haven't really gotten along all that well recently. But I'm absolutely certain that if one of them ends up in a life threatening situation, the other one is going to do everything possible to help him or her out!" The blond woman said.

Then took a short breath before she continued talking in the same reasonable tone as before.

"Those two persistent nincompoops might really, really hate to admit it. But deep inside they are friends and team mates, even true they would properly do everything they could think of to deny that" Jura said calmly.

While seriously wondering just how their two distressed comrades was handling them self wherever they were.

But before she had much time to think about that.

Dita's somewhat sadden voice interrupted her thoughts. "So Barnette really isn't going to hurt Mr Alien?" She asked quietly, which instantly made both Jura and Meia take a small glance over at each other.

"Well you see Dita there is a small chance that Barnette is going to give Hibiki a light beating. Seeing as she is properly blaming him for getting them in to that situation in the first place. But I'm almost sure that she wouldn't hurt him to badly" Jura said thoughtfully.

Honestly and deeply hoping that the redhead believed her. Seeing as she wasn't entirely certain that she was actually giving Dita the honest truth to her question about Barnette hurting the Vanguard pilot or not.

But it was just so incredibly hard even for her to tell, just how exactly her firearm collecting friend was going to react to this whole situation.

That was when Meia decided to give her two cents about the subject.

"But even if Barnette does give him a slap or two Dita, we all know that Hibiki Tokai is not the type of guy to give up. So have a little faith in him Dita, and try to look on the bright side. This entire incident with that mirror weapon could have gone so much more wrong then actually did. Those two could have land on earth instead of some far away planet" Meia said seriously.

Looking directly at the Dread leader for a small number of moments. The sad look on Dita's face didn't really decrease all that much. "It's just that, I'm really going to miss him a lot Meia" the redhead mumbled sadly.

Not saying anything to that at first, the light blue haired woman just nodded slowly in understanding. "We are all going to miss them Dita, even me" the pilot of the fast silver coloured Dread said.

Then hurried began making her way towards the exit of the hangar. Before anybody present down there had the chance to say anything about her admitting something like that out loud.

So after their leader disappear out of the hangar Jura felt a small smile ran over her lips. "She is far from as cold as she pretend to be at times" Jura said quite pleased to know, that Meia Gisborn wasn't nearly as anti-social as she had been in the past.

And while still thinking about how much their leader had change these last few month, she once more turned her attention back towards Dita.

"Do you want to go get some lunch? I don't know about you, but I haven't really gotten anything to eat since yesterday" the blond woman said, while smiling gently at the redhead.

Hearing those words Dita instantly realized how hungry she actually was, she had simply been so caught up in her sadness about what had happened to Mr Alien that she had forgotten to eat.

And when both women heard her stomach let out a minor growling sound, she nodded yes a single time. "That would be really nice Jura. Perhaps after that we could go down the Jacuzzi and relax a bit" Dita said, deciding that it wouldn't really be bad to spend a little time together with the blond woman.

Smiling slightly at that suggestion, Jura began slowly leading the redhead, over towards the door. "That's a really good idea Dita. I'm certain that spending some time down there will, surely help a lot on the stress, we are both feeling right now" the blond said kindly.

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Meanwhile back on Romanchikku.

Hibiki was sitting on a black leather couch in the living room. "Man that girl seriously is crazy" he whispered to himself. While listening to the sound of the shower that could be heard in the background.

He did however not do that for long. Before he slowly got back up on his feet and made his way over to the kitchen where he immediately started rummaging around in one of the closets for something to eat.

And fortunately for his highly ravenous belly it did not take him long to find a nice looking green box that content a great deal of cookies.

And even true he would honestly have preferred either the UFO girl's or one of the other women's cooking.

This surely was better then starving. "Just need something to drink now!" He said, while taking the few steps over to the refrigerator, where he was quick to find a carton of milk.

After that he walked back to the living room where he instantly dropped back down on the couch, where he picked up the first cookie and took a bite of it.

Deeply enjoying the chocolate like taste of it, before he swallowed it. "Hmm guess these things ain't all that bad" the tired male said to himself. As he kept on draining the box for it's contents. Once done with that the beaten up male pilot laid down on the couch, where he slowly closed both of his eyes and immediately drifted off in to a deep sleep.

Yet because of that, he of course didn't noticed when the emerald haired girl came back out of the shower. And when the Dread pilot saw him sleeping so peacefully on the couch she couldn't help but raise her right eyebrow in a thoughtful way.

"So apparently I'm not the only one who feels totally exhaust right now, I wonder if that's a side effect from being teleported all the way here" the girl said to herself in a quiet tone.

Then moved over to a black leather chair, that actually matched the couch pretty well. Once there she slowly reached down and pick up a blue fluffy looking blanket which carefully place around the sleeping Vanguard pilot.

"Sleep tight moron" she said to him.

Then hurried made her way over to the bedroom, more then a little determined to get some much needed sleep too.

To be continued.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was the day after Hibiki and Barnette had ended up on Romanchikku.

And right now a certain emerald haired girl was slowly waking up after a good long night of sleep. She frankly couldn't even remember the last time she had slept this well.

This bed was just so much more comfortable and huge then the one she had back on the Nirvana. And she kinda wished that she could take it with her once the time came for her and Hibiki to get off this utterly lunacy world.

"Well at least I'm going to sleep well while we are here" the girl mumbled to herself. Then slowly got up in to a sitting position, where she slowly stretched both of her arms up over her head.

After that she began slowly getting out of the silky white nightgown she had borrowed from one of the drawers in there. And once she succeeded in getting the highly flimsy thing off.

The now well rest girl place the piece of clothing on the bed, so she would easily be able to find it when the time came for her to be using it again.

After doing that the emerald haired girl began getting in to the clothes the older lady had given her yesterday. And seeing as this outfit wasn't nearly as complicated as her usual one, it did not take her many seconds to get fully dressed.

"Hmm I actually don't look half bad in these clothes!" She thought out loud while looking at herself in the closet mirror in there.

And once she was completely satisfied that both her hair and her clothes was sitting just exactly like it was suppose to.

She turned around and began walking slowly towards the exit, while at the same time wondering if her male 'friend' was awake or still fast asleep on the black leather couch.

Yet much to her minor surprise there was no sign of the male pilot. And it was pretty obvious, that he had been gone for quite some time now. Which actually served to make Barnette fear a small second or two, that she had gone a little overboard with the beating she had given him yesterday.

She honestly had been a little hard on the poor guy.

It was not like it was completely his fault that they had ended up on this crazy world. She should frankly have known better, then having wasting time auguring with him in the middle of a battle.

If the two of them had just remained focused back then they would most likely still be back home where they rightfully belonged. "I really hope that he hasn't decided to go off on his own" the girl quietly whispered to herself.

Not really overly pleased with the idea of being here on this world all on her own. But those worried thoughts quickly left her again, when she saw the Vanguard pilot walking around outside with some weird machine.

That was obvious meant to cut the grass or in this case burn it away, with a few neatly lined up flames that was placed on the front of the machine. "Hm guess that even something as common as a lawn mower can be completely different from world to world" the girl mumbled.

Honestly deeply relieved to know that her only real comrade on this world hadn't suddenly vanished through the night. The emerald haired girl really didn't want to be alone with all of these so call 'romantic' nut cases around.

So after watching the man work a bit more she turned and walked slowly over to the kitchen. "Might as well make something to eat for us! So we at least have some energy for whatever we are going to do next. I seriously hope that he has some kind of brilliant plan, to get us off this nutty world in a hurry. I really don't want to stay here any longer then necessary!" She said.

The Dread pilot still could not get over the fact that they where actually willing to kill people for being single on this planet. Who in the right state of mind would come up with such a ridiculous law like that.

Yet even while she continued thinking about the stupid mess, Hibiki and her had gotten themselves in to. She started rummaging through the first of the many closets out there, for any kind of ingredients that could be used, to make a small meal for the two of them.

And it didn't really take all that long before she had everything she needed to make a good portion of curry, which she remember Dita mention once that Hibiki liked a great deal.

So while trying her best to forget everything that was bothering her right now. The weapon collecting woman, started concentrating on preparing the food for her and the fool outside.

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At the same time outside.

The young Taraak was actually having a pretty sweet time, with the odd machine the old couple had let him borrow to cut the large amount of grass, that was planted around the huge house.

It kinda remind him of a combination of a lawn mower and a slow moving skateboard. And a tiny part of him was already seriously considering trying to find a way to make this extremely weird device move even faster.

If he could do that, he knew that he would have a great means transportation in this thing.

Which could actually be quite useful should somebody ever discover that Barnette and him wasn't a real couple, and it became necessary for them to leave this place in a hurry.

And knowing that with his skills as a mechanic, it shouldn't really be all that difficult for him to make a few minor adjustments on this device.

That would enable it to move that much faster, so he and the highly cranky woman inside at least had some means to escape from this place, should somebody show up to arrest them for not being in are real couple.

Yet as useful as this thing could be to them.

It wouldn't really do him or Barnette much good had they noway to get it from the extremely large garage where he had first found it.

So it would most definitely be wise to have a good long chat with the emerald haired woman about getting their hands on some weapons. That way they would at the very least have a few things to defend themselves with, against whatever law enforcement they had on this highly screwed-up world.

"I just hope that these people don't have anything like my Mecha or the Dreads patrolling the streets here! If they do that, the option of fighting them would be more then just insane and stupid. Then we are better of running away as fast as possible!" He whispered angrily.

Realizing that there was simply no way they could even hope to stand up to such powerful machines, without having their own crafts to kick back with. "Damn it why couldn't my partner and her Dread have been brought here too!" The dark blue haired boy complained.

Doing his best to keep his voice down incase the old man and woman was around. If this world was crazy enough to execute single people, he seriously did not want to see or even know what they would do to offworlders.

Yet while he was so busy thinking about all of that. He did not notice that properly the only other normal person on this world beside himself was currently heading in a straight line directly towards him.

And after watching the Taraak boy mess around with the flying lawn mower thing a few short moments longer. Barnette let out a slight cough which was meant to get his attention.

And once she got eye contact with him she immediately started talking in a somewhat kind tone.

"Ummm...Hibiki! Once you are done playing around with that stupid thing, would it be to much to ask, that you come inside? We do have a lot of things we need to discourse!" She said with a great deal of seriousness in her voice.

But even while speaking to her male company.

The emerald haired girl, could not help but take yet another thorough look around the place. Just to make absolutely sure, that there was not a soul nearby listening in on their conversation.

Fortunately as far as she could tell the insanely huge garden was empty for people except her and Hibiki, which meant that it did not take very long before she turned her attention back towards the Vanguard pilot.

Now just waiting to hear, what he had to say to her small request for him to come inside, so they could talk about all of this.

And even true it was somewhat hard to hear what the woman was saying over the loud noise from the odd machine. It wasn't overly difficult to figure out what it was she wanted him to do.

"You go on ahead Barnette, I'll be right in! I just need to put this thing back where it belong first!" He loudly told the emerald haired girl. Then started making his way over towards the garage.

Happy to know that she would not have to waste time waiting around for him out there, Barnette turned on one foot and started marching back towards the house in a fast pace, already looking forward to a portion of the curry she had spend all of this time making.

Once inside she immediately walked over and dropped down by the table where she used a big metal ladle to serve herself some food. Then hurried blow away a bit of the steam, before taking a large bite of the first meal she had gotten since they got there.

Yet as much as she was enjoying eating in peace and quiet for a rare change.

She did not get a whole lot of time to do that before she heard the front door fly open, which could only mean that her male friend was now inside. "Wow it really smells good in here!" Hibiki called out as he enter the kitchen and took a look around.

And immediately after he discovered what the smell was.

He hurried moved over and dropped down on one of the other empty seats in there. Where the Taraak youngster, didn't waste anytime in filling his own plate with as much food as it could contain.

Which he without any hesitation started eating in what could only be described as in with a huge healthy appetite. That kinda made it seem quite a bit like this was the first time he had ever gotten a real meal.

And even true she would never admit it out loud Barnette was actually a bit pleased that he liked her food so much.

It might only be a tiny part of her but the emerald haired woman had always disliked it when people didn't like her food, and she especially hated the idea of throwing something away, she had spend so much time making.

Yet one look at the man across from her made it pretty obvious that there was no danger of that now. Even if they didn't finish all of the curry now she was pretty certain that he wouldn't mind eating it reheated.

And the thought that none of her home cooked food wouldn't go waste when Hibiki was around actually pleased Barnette a great deal. Yet after watching him emptying half of his plate on record time.

The emerald haired girl began wondering if Vanguard pilot was actually planing on cleaning out the entire pot now. And definitely not wanting to walk around starving the rest of the day.

Barnette quickly came to the decision, that she wanted a bit more of the curry, before Hibiki could consume it all. And after using the ladle to serve herself a bit more of the highly tasty food, she continued eating it in her calm usual pace.

Yet as they sat there enjoying their meal. Both of them realized, that they had a lot of things they needed to talk about. But even knowing that neither one of the pilots said anything to one another.

They where simply far more interested in satisfying their deep hunger right now then discoursing all of the mess they where currently in.

And it was only after the pot was completely empty for contents that Barnette finally brought the deep silence to an end. "So...! Any bright ideas about what we are suppose to do now?" She asked, while taking a small sip from the glass of water that was standing beside her plate.

Thinking briefly about what the woman was asking him, the boy leand back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful look on his face. "Well seeing as we still don't know a whole lot about this place. I was thinking that taking a look around that Blossom city would be a good move. Perhaps if we are lucky they have some sort of library, we could use to dig up some information about that whole dating thing these lamebrains has going here" he said, then once more looked back at the emerald haired woman.

That by now was giving him a somewhat skeptical look. "That's it! I had honestly hoped Hibiki that you had some totally brilliant scheme, to get us away from this nut factory! I really don't want to stay here for a long period of time!" Barnette complained in a loud tone.

Not at all pleased that he hadn't been thinking about someway to get them off this so call 'romantic' world.

Having already thought a great deal about what the woman was saying to him. The Taraak boy slowly got up from his chair and gather together the few things he had used to eat the delicious meal Barnette had made for them.

"Trust me I get what you are saying Barnette! I too would very much like to get away from this place in a hurry, but seeing as we ain't even sure that these people are even capable of space traveling! There isn't really a whole lot of point in going around trying to figure out how to steal a spaceship, when we ain't even sure they have any in the first place!" He said, while placing his plate and everything else in the sink.

Then once more turned and looked back at the green haired girl. "Which is actually another reason why I seriously think we should take a look around Blossom, you never know if we can find anything useful there" he said.

Sounding much to Barnette's small amazement quite clever and reasonable right now. "Well I guess that your plan is at least better, then sitting around here the rest of the day doing nothing!" The girl said, making absolutely sure that he knew that she wasn't entirely satisfied with his plans for the day.

Looking at her a bit Hibiki rolled his eyes a single time, while doing his best to ignore the part of him, that was almost screaming at him to say a few sarcastic remarks to the woman, then tell her to come up with a better plan herself.

Yet knowing from experience, that Barnette Orangello was just as good and well trained, in inflicting pain on the human body as Meia Gisborn was. Actually the only real difference between the two women, was that Barnette preferred to use weapons, while Meia was satisfied just using her fists.

So fortunately for the dark blue haired boy he was somehow able to suppress those emotions and give the woman a normal reply, that did not result in him ending up getting either a slap or beaten up, in some other highly painful manner.

"Glad that you approve woman. But do you mind waiting a few minutes while I grab a quick shower? It was kinda tough cutting the grass out there even true the odd machine did most of the work" he said while scratch his hair slightly, not at all please with the idea of walking around looking like somebody that had never once taken a shower before.

Taking a few brief moment or two to look the male over. It was pretty easy to tell that it had not been long since, he had been hard at work and that he was sweating a great deal right now.

"Fine I don't really mind waiting a bit. Just don't stay in there for hours! It would properly be best that we only venture around the city when their isn't too many other people nearby. That way we can reduce our chance of somebody discovering that we ain't in a real relationship" Barnette said in a serious tone.

Which made the young man nod a single time in agreement. "That does sound pretty reasonable. By the way if you have any ideas, for making a few weapons I don't mind helping out with that at all, just tell me what you need!" He said, sounding just as serious as the emerald haired woman.

Yet before she had the time to think of something.

Hibiki quickly stepped out of the kitchen and immediately made his way to the bathroom. With the Dread pilot looking after him until he was out of sight. "Hm having one or two weapons around ain't really a bad idea" the girl whispered to herself.

Then slowly got up from her seat and walked in to the living room, where she was quick to get comfortable in the black leather chair.

Yet if somebody took a look at her face it was pretty obvious that she had a lot on her mind at the moment.

"Hm perhaps those flame things on the lawn mower can be turned in to something interesting" the girl munched softly. Feeling more then a bit annoyed that she had not gotten any of her guns or other weapons with her on this little trip.

000000

It was about fifteen minutes later when the two Nirvana crew members stepped out of the small house and began making their way towards the city they could see in the not so far distance.

They had however not been walking for long. Before Hibiki decided that he did not like the silence. "I seriously hope this goes well it's kinda like heading in to enemy territory without having any idea about what is waiting ahead" the blue haired youngster said.

Knowing that the people on this planet was totally obsessed with dating, which kinda left the big question how obsessed.

Would Barnette and him have to do something special once they reached the city, or would they be able to walk around in peace, without anybody realizing that they where not a real couple.

"Well once we get there lets just try to act natural and blend in as much as we can. We definitely don't want to get any unwanted attention now" Barnette said, seriously wondering what could be a waiting them once they reached the city.

She just hoped that this little trip in to enemy territory as Hibiki call it would not end up getting both of them arrested.

If somebody actually tried to do that. They could be absolutely sure that she would not go down without first giving whatever half-witted law enforcement here a few nasty surprise in the process, like a couple of broken bones and perhaps a bloody nose or two.

Yet ever true the emerald haired woman was planing on resisting arrested no matter what. She realized that it would most likely be best for both of them to avoid any contact with the police or whoever was enforcing the law here on this planet.

She most definitely wanted to live through all of this.

So she could one day see Jura and all of her other friends again. And a brief glance over at the expression on her male friend's face made it pretty obvious that he felt exactly the same way.

He too was completely and utterly determined to survive this whole ordeal. And at one point in the future get off this crazy world, and back to everybody back home on the Nirvana.

Yet as nice as it was to know, that she was not the only one who felt so strongly about getting away from this place in a hurry. She found herself wondering just what was going on in the male pilot's head.

He really did seem to be quite far away in his own thoughts right now. As they continued heading slowly towards the enormous city. And once she saw the thoughtful vein on his forehead grew a little bigger.

Barnette decided that she was curious about, what was going on in the male's otherwise empty head. "So are you thinking about how much you miss the others back on Nirvana? Or is it just food that you are so preoccupied with?" She asked.

Hearing that question, Hibiki immediately turned his attention away from the sidewalk and over at the woman walking beside him. "Well to tell you the truth I actually do miss the others. Being stuck on this world, is not really what I would consider fun. It's actually far more entertaining being chased around the Nirvana by the UFO girl!" He explained with a slightly distance look in his eyes.

Nodding slowly in understanding to that, Barnette was quick to come up with another question she was honestly quite curious about. "Now that we are talking about Dita, how do you really feel about her? You do realize that she has quite the crush on you!" She said, while taking a look around for anybody listening in.

Yet with her being slightly distract, she did not notice the displeased look Hibiki was now giving her.

But even true he wasn't overly delighted about this subject. He knew that deep inside, he had honestly been wanting to talk with somebody about the weird UFO girl for quite some time now.

"Yeah I do know that, it's kinda hard to miss, with her always trying to hug me or chasing after me. But no matter how many times I twist and turn it in my head I just can't help, but think about her more as a brother...or whatever you women call it!" He said, sounding more then a little depressed about the whole thing.

Hearing him say that Barnette instantly looked back over at him again, where she could of course no help but notice the guilty look that was now covering most of his face.

Which was more then enough to tell Barnette Orangello, just how much thought the boy had put in to this whole matter with Dita. "Well if that's truly the way you feel about her. Then once we get back to the ship you really should tell her that, so she know where both of you stand in this!" The emerald haired girl said in a deep very serious tone.

Knowing that the woman beside him was properly right. It really would be best if he told the redhead about this as quickly as possible. He did after all care about the weird UFO girl, so she really did deserve to know.

"I guess you are right, I'll talk with her about it once we get back on the ship" the male pilot said in a quiet tone. Now trying his best to figure out what the hell he was suppose to say to the girl.

And seeing how hard he was thinking about this the Dread piloted decided that it was properly best to change the subject over to something else. Seeing as it could take quite a while before they would get back on the Nirvana.

"So how about Meia how do you feel about her?" The woman asked.

Sincerely hoping that talking about some of the other girls would be enough to distract her male company. From the obviously highly touchy subject, she had brought up in the first place.

And much to her relief he really did seem to be giving her newest question some serious thought. "Well I respect her a lot. There is honestly nobody else on the entire Nirvana I would rather have covering my back then her!" He explained, while thinking hard about the blue haired woman.

He was actually so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost missed the next question Barnette asked him. "And Jura what do you think of about her?" She asked highly curious about what, the answer was going to be to this question.

"Hmm that's a bit of a hard question to answer. To be honest I do respect her even true she does make that kinda hard to do from time to time with all of her strange ideas. Like that time she was so obsessed with having my Vanguard and her Dread combine. It was almost like she had nothing else on her mind then that. Yet when she stops worrying about her image, she is actually a pretty great person" Hibiki admitted.

Then folded his arms behind his head, obviously still thinking quite hard about the at times crazy blond woman.

Deeply happy to know that he didn't have anything against her best friend Barnette gave him a pleased smile as they continued walking down the sidewalk. She might not want to admit it out loud.

But Hibiki Tokai had actually won a great deal of her respect. By giving her such a well thought out answer about her best friend. It really showed that he was taking this whole conversation seriously.

Which was something the emerald haired girl was actually quite happy and pleased about.

It was kinda nice to know, that she and the Taraak boy could actually have a normal reasonable conversation, without at some point being ready to tear each other's heads off.

Yet as the boy and girl continued walking there so calmly.

Enjoying the peace and quiet around them. It did not take very long before the two of them finally reached the city border, where the quick to notice a few things that was a bit unnatural for a large city.

First the place looked amazingly clean. There was not even one piece of garbage, anywhere on the street.

And there was not single one of the many windows around them that looked dirty at all. Each and everyone of them looked so incredibly bright that it was very likely that they got wash and polish on daily basis

"Damn so it's not only dating these people are obsessed with, apparently cleaning is a very big part of their culture too" Hibiki whispered to his female friend.

Seriously not getting how it was even possible to maintain this place and make sure that there was no kind of dirt around. It was kinda like they had an entire army to just keep the city clean.

Also quite taken back by how overly clean this place was. Barnette found herself nodding slowly in agreement, while reminding herself not to throw any garbage on the street incase that was something else that could get them executed.

Yet while the young man and woman, where so caught up in taking in the sight of the huge city. Neither of them noticed the two uniform women who was currently heading straight towards them.

Each of them with a highly displeased expression on their face. "What in the world does the two of you think you are doing? All of you young couples should already know by now that it's highly illegal to walk around Blossom without holding hands!" The oldest one of the two police woman or whatever they was said in a tone that made it clear for both Hibiki and Barnette, that this was serious business.

Taking a small glance over at each other.

Both of the Nirvana pilots could easily tell from the others skeptical expression that they where both more then a little tempt to start making fun of this so call law.

But seeing as neither one of them, was all that interested in experience how these women was going to punish them for not holding hands. They nodded briefly to one another before they reached out and slowly wrapped their fingers together.

After that they once more looked back at the two angry women, where Hibiki decided to give them the first and best excuse he could come up with.

"I'm really sorry about that, I was kinda distract by the ideas for a poem I was going to write for her, once we get back home" the boy lied with a completely straight face.

He knew from the many months on board the Nirvana, that there was quite a few women that found the idea of writing and reading poems highly romantic. So it would actually be more then a little strange, if something like that wasn't popular on a planet so obsessed with having people dating.

And when Barnette and Hibiki saw the overly bright smile appear on the youngish of the two women's faces.

It was kinda obvious that she at the very least believed the blue haired boy's excuse for not holding hands. "Ahhhh that's just so sweet and romantic! I really wish that my boyfriend would do that more often" the youngish one of the girl's said in a overly excited while getting a dreamy look in both of her eyes. That told them just how much she loved the idea of her boyfriend writing a few poems for her.

Yet after listening to the short pink haired girl talk with herself about love and poems for almost five minutes straight.

Both of the Nirvana's crew members was seriously getting sick listening to her. And the only reason why they where able to stop themselves from telling the annoying girl to shut the hell up, was by squeezing each other's hands more and more tightly.

Neither one of them caring about how utterly painful this was getting by every second that went by. Actually it was a bit of a helpful distraction that kept both of them from saying something, that would most likely get them arrested and thrown in jail.

Fortunately before either of them could reach the breaking point and snap. The other girl, apparently decided that she had enough of this too. "Ok that's quite enough Flonne, I'm sure that this adorable couple has other things to do then listen to you talk about love the whole day" she said in a tone, that much people would easily be able to interpret as be quiet now.

And once the obviously high ranking women was absolutely sure that her subordinate was done talking. She again turned her attention back towards the boy and girl which they had been talking to when Flonne had slipped in to her love mode.

"I'm truly sorry about that. She does have the tendency to talk like a waterfall, when she thinks something is really romantic! But enough about that just remember the rules in the future. To always hold hands when walking around in the city and pull out the chair for your date and open the door for her!" The purple haired girl said in a tone.

Which made it pretty clear for both Nirvana crew members, that this wasn't just a few comment rules she was talking about. This was actually the law in this town full of nut cases.

Yet just like the pink haired one this girl was just as chatty, she kept on loudly explaining one law after another to them. Which was frankly a real serious test on their already thin patient.

It was kinda like this girl, was actually planing on explaining half of the law book to them.

And that was most definitely not something either Hibiki or Barnette had much interested in learning about.

The two of them had after all been a bit of a rebel back home on Mejere and Taraak. Seeing as neither of them liked following the rules, and preferred just doing what they wanted to do.

Which was actually one of the reason why they had both ended up becoming pirates in the first place. And even true both of them where just about ready to explode and tell the purple haired noisemaker a few things that would most likely hurt her feelings pretty badly.

The tiny voice at the very back of their heads that kept on reminding them how easily people got execute on this planet, was just barely enough to keep both of them quiet.

As the highly irritating girl took a short breath, then continued telling them about how utterly important it was that the man was a perfect gentleman whenever a couple was out on a date.

But as she stood there with her head held high eyes closed and with her arms fold over her chest. The green haired Dread pilot could not help leaned a bit closer to her male friend and whisper a few things in to his ear.

"How bad do you think the punishment is for beating up a cop on this world?" She asked while glaring angrily over at the purple haired woman that apparently wasn't planing on stopping anytime soon. It seem very much like she was determined to make sure that they would never forget holding hands again whenever they enter the city.

Slowly moving his highly annoyed gazes away from the human copy of Pyoro, and over at the woman he was still tightly holding hands with.

Hibiki immediately gave her a small look, that was meant to tell her that he too, would much rather be anywhere else in the whole galaxy then being forced to listen to this for much longer, there was simply no describe how utterly annoying this woman truly was.

"I really don't know how bad the punishment is! But I'm seriously starting to think that it would at least be better then this! How the heck can she remember all of this so easily?" The boy asked her back.

Before he again looked over at the two uniform women. Who was so caught up in all of this that none of them where even close to realizing just how much Barnette and Hibiki truly wanted to strangle them right about now.

And finally after a few more minutes Barnette Orangello had gotten just about all she could take of this. Which meant that she decided to cut in to the long speech the next time the purple haired chatterbox took one of her minor breaks to breath.

"If it's all right with you, the two of us would very much like to get going now, we do have a dinner reservation we need to get to!" She said loudly.

Making completely certain that there was simply noway that either one of the two highly talkative women, had the chance to start on another one of their long winded speeches about love or the insane laws here.

Not at all pleased about being interrupted in her ranting about something at important as the law.

The purple haired woman glared angrily at Barnette for a few seconds until she let out a light breath. "All right then I guess the two of you can go for now! But please do remember the rules in the future. The rest of the love-squadron isn't nearly as forgiving as Flonne and me!" She warned seriously.

Then turned around and walked off with her pink haired friend following not far behind her.

And once out of sight both Barnette and Hibiki just couldn't stop themselves, from sighing deeply in relief. "Holy crap! That was even worth then listening to Dita rant about aliens for a couple of hours" Barnette complained sincerely hoping that they never meet them again while on this planet.

Nodding slowly in agreement Hibiki felt quite a bit like just sitting down on the sidewalk.

And just enjoy how quiet it was now that those two girls where finally gone. One of the very first thing he had realized after joining up with the female pirates was that they talked way to much.

But he was sure that it would have been even least annoying listening to all the women back on the Nirvana chat away for four whole hours, then listened five minutes to the two girls he had met not long ago.

Yet while he stood there wondering just how exactly somebody could be so damn irritating.

The mecha pilot suddenly remembered something the leader of the two women had talked about. "They said something about a love-squadron. Do you think there is more of those crazy women around here?" He asked in a somewhat nervous tone.

Seriously hoping, that they could somehow avoid any future encounters with this so call Love-Squadron.

Taking a small glance away from the sidewalk and over at her male friend. Barnette used the next couple of seconds to really think about the question Hibiki had just asked her.

If all the people in this love-squadron was behaving exactly like the two girls that they had pretty much been forced to listen for the last fifteen minutes. It was without a doubt an extremely good idea to stay clear of them from now on.

And with that in mind. The emerald haired Dread pilot, gave her low lips a hard highly nervous bite.

"I hope not! If they are all like that. I might seriously consider just killing myself. That would definitely be least painful, then being forced in to listen to them talk about love and laws for so long!" The woman said in a tone, that made it pretty clear that she wasn't really serious about her last statement, and that she would honestly just prefer not to have anymore contact with these overly lovesick people.

Not having the least bit of trouble understanding what the girl meant. Hibiki nodded a single time in agreement.

"Yeah tell me about it! But I really do think we should keep going Barnette until we find either a library or someplace else where we can dig up a little information about this world. That seriously would be the best way to help us find away to get off this silly planet!" He said, with a deep thoughtful look in his eyes.

Looking at him for a few brief moments. Barnette Orangello had to admit that she wasn't really overly pleased with the idea of continuing their exploring of this stupid town and risk running in to anymore of those overly chatty girls.

But seeing as she really wanted to get back to the others in a hurry, she knew that they had no other choice but to keep on going.

And with that in mind she tighten her grip on his hand. "Lets just hurry up and get this over with, I really don't want to spend to much time in this city!" She said loudly.

Just before she began dragging Hibiki with her down the street, sincerely hoping that it would not take much time for them to find the library.

To be continued.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was now a half hour after Hibiki Tokai and Barnette Orangello had gotten away from the two way to chatty law enforcement.

And even true they where both quite determined to to get out of this city as fast as possible.

They frankly had least then no luck in locating the stupid library, which was seriously starting to get on both of their nerves.

"Damn it, where is that stupid building, I'm frankly starting to think we should ask somebody for direction!" Barnette growled angrily. Seriously starting to get tired off wasting their time with this.

Yet what she didn't know was that Hibiki had already been considering that for a little while now. But seeing as the only people he could see anywhere near the small Plaza they where presently at, was some of those love freaks.

There was simply no denying the huge part of him. That was highly tempted to suggest that they just continued search for the library on their own.

Yet having noticed early on just how impatience the girl beside him was about getting out of this city. He honestly thought that it was best that he let her decide if they should try asking them.

"Want to try our luck with them?" He asked in a small tone, while nodding a single time in the direction of three uniformity women. That was currently sitting quietly at a small nice looking cafe, obviously eating cake and drinking tea.

Not really certain that she wanted to run the risk of starting a conversation with these people incase they where just like the last once.

If they actually ended up being forced in to listening to something so utterly stupid and mindless again.

She highly doubted that she would be able to keep her temper under control. Without at some point trying to knock one or all three girls out with no other motivation then getting them to shut the hell up.

"I'm not really keen on talking with those girls Hibiki, if they are like the others we met. Those two girls could give even the most down to earth person in the galaxy a nervous breakdown in just five minutes!" She said, highly displeased just thinking about having to talk with anymore people like that.

Also feeling more then a little uncertain about the sanity in talking with these girls. The male pilot slowly reached up with his free hand and scratch his dark blue hair in a thoughtful way.

"Yeah well I too ain't really overly excited about having to talk with them. But I guess as long as we keep holding hands and don't break any so call laws, they should have no excuse to start talking to us like the last two" he said, feeling a light shiver run down his spin, at the mere thought of all the women on this planet behaving just like the last two.

Not giving him any kind of response at first. The emerald haired girl got an expression on her face, that made it pretty obvious to Hibiki that she was giving everything he had just said some very serious thoughts.

But just when it looked like she had made a decision a kind voice suddenly cut in to their small conversation. "Is there anything I can help you young lovers with? The two of you have been standing here for quite some time now looking like you are having trouble figuring out where to go" the voice asked.

Making both of them jump slightly as they immediately turned and looked in the direction of the voice.

Where they each saw a woman with long thick blue haired and a friendly expression on her face, that did not held any kind of hostility towards them, which did serve to make both pirates calm down slightly.

Not that any of them let their guard down completely, seeing as this otherwise kind looking woman was dressed almost exactly like the last two they had ran in to not long ago.

The only major different between them and her was that this one was obviously a high ranking one. And even true there was simply no denying that this woman didn't seem nearly as chatty as the other two.

Both Barnette and Hibiki was more then a little tempted to just hurry up and get out of there. Before this lady had the chance to start talking about who the hell knew what.

Yet seeing the strange gun like weapon this woman was carrying in a holster located near her waist. Made both of them decide that it was most likely best to stay put at least for now.

So after sharing a short look Barnette let out a small breath before she began explaining to the blue haired woman what the problem was. "Well you see Ma'am we where trying to find the library. So we where kinda hoping, that you would point us in the right direction?" The female pirate said in a friendly tone.

While deep inside feeling more then a little annoyed over the fact that she didn't have any of her own weapons with her, on this so call mission.

If this girl was going to be hostile in any way, she really would prefer to at least have something to fight back with just incase. But much to her relief the blue haired girl kept on smiling at them, even when she got a slightly thoughtful look in both of her crystal green orbs eyes.

"Hmmm library...library ohhh you mean the archives! It's located over by the spaceport! But it's pretty funny that you are using that old name for it" the blue haired woman said, now with an even more cheerful look on her face if that was even possible.

Hearing her mentioning the word, spaceport Barnette and Hibiki immediately took yet another glance over at each other. Both pirates seriously wondering if there was a ship there they could use to leave this world and start searching for the others.

Yet even true the thought of leaving this lovesick world was something that was distracting both of them quite a bit right now. It only took a couple of seconds before Hibiki again turned his attention back towards the highly friendly woman.

"So this spaceport where is that exactly?" He asked, while nervously changed his grip on Barnette's hand a bit.

This lady might seem more pleasant to be around then the other two. Yet seeing it as was kinda obvious that it was this love-squadron that was function as the main law enforcement on this planet.

He really didn't think it was wise to trust this woman completely with Barnette and him only pretending to be a real couple.

Not even close to realizing that these people where not what they seemed.

The bluenette tilted her head slightly to the side before she once more began talking to the two pirates. "Well if you guys are going in that direction, you can just come with me, I'm going back there any way!" She offer kindly, while thinking about what a cute and attractive couple these two made.

It was at time such as these that she was truly glad that she had chosen to join the love-squadron in the first place. There was always so incredibly many cute couples to see when working for everybody to have a peaceful life together.

And this young man and woman definitely made one of the most adorable couples, Luna Valentine had seen in a very long time. Yet while the beautiful bluenette was momentarily caught up in trying to decide, just where exactly on her top ten list of couples these two belonged. She saw the man lean over to whisper a few things in the girl's ear, which she also found a tiny bit romantic.

"So do you want to go with this woman or do you want to continue on our own?" Hibiki asked softly in to Barnette's ear, being very careful that the other blue haired woman could not hear what he was saying.

She might not seem nearly as bad as the other two girls they had met not long ago.

But in his eyes there was frankly no reason to run any unnecessary risk. He seriously did not feel like listening to any of those long-winded speechs again anytime soon if there was anyway to avoid it.

Taking a brief glance over at the bluenette's face, Barnette was quick to realize that the girl had almost the same kind of expression on her face as the one Dita would have whenever she was thinking about aliens and UFOs, which honestly made the emerald haired woman wonder just what exactly this girl could be thinking so hard about.

Yet seeing her stand there with that highly dreamy look in both of her eyes, did have a slightly calming effect on the firearms collecting girl.

This girl didn't really seem like the most serious threat they could encounter on this planet. If anything she seemed all the more interested in daydreaming then anything else.

And as long as she didn't start telling Hibiki and her, each and everyone of her thoughts. Barnette honestly did not really mind spending a few minutes accompany this slightly weird girl, to wherever the spaceport and archives was located.

And with that in mind she turned her gazes away from the daydreamer and back towards her male friend. "Lets just go with her Hibiki, I honestly don't think she is nearly as insufferable as the last Love-Squadron members we met" she whispered to him in a low tone.

Then once more looked back at the high ranking Love-Squadron officer where she gave her a small smile. "If it's all right with you Ma'am we will take you up on that offer!" Barnette told the other girl in a friendly tone.

Quite obviously interrupting the other woman in her cheerful daydreams about who knew what. But even then it took a little over a small minute before the somewhat air headed bluenette returned completely back to reality.

Where she slowly blinked a couple of times as she moved her gazes back towards Barnette and Hibiki. Once more getting all giddy over how cute these two looked when they where standing there together.

And even true she was dangerously close to slipping back in to her daydreams. She somehow manage to stay focus on the cute couple in front of her. "Now then are the two of you ready to get going now!" She asked in loud cheerful tone, which made both Hibiki and Barnette nod slowly.

Seeing that, the smile on her face grew even bigger if that was even possible. "Great then please follow me!" The young bluenette said, before she turned around and took a look at the many streets surrounding the plaza.

And finally after what seemed like a small eternity to both of the pirates.

She choose the street closed one to the left and started walking down it. Yet from what the two Nirvana crew members could tell her choice of direction seem kinda random, like she had no idea about where she was going.

Which of course made both Hibiki and Barnette feel more then a little reluctant about following her.

But with neither of them knowing their way around this weird city it did not take long before the emerald haired girl let out a small breath.

Then hesitantly started dragging Hibiki with her after the seemingly puzzled bluenette, that was still acting quite a bit like she had honestly no idea about where exactly she was leading them.

000000

Hibiki Tokai and Barnette Orangello had been following the bluenette for almost an hour when she finally stopped and pointed at a extremely huge building.

"Here we are now, I just knew that it was around here somewhere!" She happily stated. Not noticing the highly displeased glares both of the Nirvana crew members was currently sending her.

Seeing as one could pretty easily spot the small plaza they had left so many minutes ago a few hundred meters to the left of them.

And just the thought of how long this air headed woman had taken to lead them this short distances from the plaza, was more then enough to make both Barnette and Hibiki feel unbelievable frustrated and exhausted.

And as the bluenette stood there feeling so overly proud about find this place where she usually worked, Hibiki lean over and whispered a few things to the emerald haired girl beside him.

"I'm seriously starting to hate this place, once we are done looking through the library or whatever she call it. I'm never going to set foot in this city ever again" he said doing nothing to hide how much all of this was pissing him off.

Taking a glance away from the bluenetter that had so kindly helped them out and over at the man which hand she was apparently trying to break, Barnette could only nod a few times in agreement.

"Yeah tell me about it! What is it with this dumb world? Why can't we just meet one single person that isn't a total chatterbox or can get lost finding her way out of an escape pod?" The Dread pilot asked, while honestly wondering just how many more scatterbrains they could meet on just a single day.

Knowing precisely what his female friend meant. Hibiki nodded slowly in agreement, while moving his hand around a bit in her extremely tight grip which was actually starting to hurt slightly.

"Hopefully now that we are here, it wouldn't take us very long to find the few books we need. I really don't want to be in this city any longer, I had more then enough of all of this!" Hibiki muttered back to the emerald haired woman, while seriously wondering just how it was possible for them to run in to just about every weird person that lived in this city, couldn't they just meet somebody normal for a change.

Yet while the two pirate stood there wondering, just how many more nut case they where going to meet in this town. Their highly cranky thoughts was loudly brought to a hold by an extremely happy voice from inside the spaceport.

"Luna my dear you are back already! That was fast, I actually thought that you would need a few more hours, to get back here!" A white haired man yelled out as he practically leaped out of the huge building and straight over to the bluenette.

Who by now looked a tiny bit displeased about his small comment concerning her taking so long to find her way back there.

So while instantly brushing his caring hand away from her face. She gave him a deeply grumpy glare. "Hey don't you be mean to me you Keitaro-baka it did not take that long for me to get back here, just ask those two!" She defended herself proudly, while pointing back at Hibiki and Barnette, who that looked quite a bit like they where just about ready to collapse any second now.

Taking a glance at the two people standing behind his beautiful wife.

Keitaro could of course not help but notice how the two of them seemed very much like, they had gone all the way to hell and back, which was a pretty obvious sign to him that they had follow Luna on her long trip back there.

And knowing that, was more then enough to make the young man chuckle loudly. Which immediately earn him a highly displeased glare from the blue haired boy and emerald haired girl.

That however did very little to dim his deep amusement, over all the trouble Luna had most likely lead these young two people in to. "So for what vital reason did the two of you choose to take the risk of following my lovely wife here?" The man asked. Still behaving very much like he was ready to fall down on his knees, and start laughing like a complete lunatic.

And just the sight of that bastard of a man smirking at her like that was almost the last straw. Barnette was just about ready to rush forward, to make absolute certain that this man would not be able to laugh at her or anybody else for the rest of his life.

Fortunately before she could do something that would most likely get them in a huge load of trouble and properly kill in the end.

Hibiki gave her left hand a extremely hard squeeze. Which she instantly return a brief second later, actually succeeding in making a little blood appear from the places where her long nails, was drilling down in to the skin on his hand.

Which to put it lightly hurt like hell, yet thanks to his own deep anger about everything they had been forced to endure today.

The Vanguard pilot was somehow able to disregard the large amount of pain that was currently traveling through his hand, as he too stood there seriously considering beating that damn smirk of that man's face.

But as utterly violent as both of their thoughts was right now. The two of them somehow manage to keep on smiling, at the high command Love-Squadron members and not show them just how completely pissed off they where right now.

And while still feeling highly annoyed and extremely angry at the mere sight of that dumb smirk on the white haired moron's face. Barnette moved slightly forward and asked the one thing Hibiki and her truly wanted answers to.

"So which one of the buildings here is the archives?" She asked in a low grumpy tone, which kinda reminded the Taraak boy of the one she had used just before she had launch her so call revolution against him and the rest of the male crew members on the Nirvana.

And knowing what had happened back then.

Hibiki immediately realized that if one of these people didn't tell his female comrade what she wanted to know, there was a very good chance that one of them would end up getting hurt quite badly, most likely the still smirking man.

And in Hibiki's eyes, it really did seem quite a bit like the emerald haired woman was just about ready to leap full speed over to the smirking imbecile and tear one or two limbs off, then use them to beat him to death a second later.

Yet much to Hibiki's minor relief the bluenette turned and point at the building to the left of them. "It's that one right over there!" She said loudly.

Which instantly made the Taraak boy nodded a single time in understanding, then turned around and started making his way over to the archives, pulling the highly hostile woman along with him.

Making absolutely sure not to release the tight grip he had on her hand. Which was honestly the only way he felt like he could be completely certain that the emerald haired girl would not start a fight with the highly provoking man.

They did however not get very far before he again looked back at the man and woman behind them. "Umm!...Thank you for taking us here Ma'am!" He said, then continued the rest of the way over to the library still holding tightly on to Barnette's hand.

And once over there it took least then a second before the two of them disappeared in to the building.

Seeing that Luna immediately turned her green eyes back at her husband. "Those two where just so unbelievably cute, I kinda wish I had my camera so I could get a nice photo of the two of them standing together!" She said loudly.

Sincerely wanting to add a photo of those two to the many other picture she had of some of the more cute couples she had seen working for the Love-Squadron.

Hearing her say that Keitaro once more turned his attention back towards his wife. "Well perhaps if you are just a bit lucky my dear Luna you will meet them again at some point in time" he told her in a sweet voice.

Before he slowly reached up and brush a few strands of her long blue hair away from her forehead.

Looking at him for a couple of seconds, the blue haired woman tilted her head a bit to the side in a somewhat curious manner. "Do you really think we will meet them again?" She asked hopefully, while looking straight in to her husband's blue eyes.

Getting a sightly thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah I think so Luna, those two didn't seem to know their way around the city yet. So there is a really good chance that we will run in to them soon or later. But never mind that now lets hurry up and get back to work" he gently told her, then slowly wrapped his fingers around her hand and started leading her in to the enormous building not far from them.

000000

Meanwhile over in the lobby of the library or whatever it was call.

Both Hibiki and Barnette was leaning against wall. Each of them breathing hard as they tried to calm down, after everything they had experienced these last couple of hours, since they had first enter the city.

And as the Vanguard pilot slowly pull his hand away from the emerald haired girl's extremely tight grip. He took a thorough look at all the minor injuries the highly pissed of woman had inflict on it.

And even true the boy realized that he would under normal circumstance already be yelling at Barnette for doing something like this. Right now he honestly didn't feel like it was worth the trouble.

So he just watched the body part a few seconds longer. Then lift his other arm up and used the sleeve to slowly whip away the remaining blood on his hand.

After doing that he once more reached over and took a hold on Barnette's hand, which instantly made the green haired woman turned her worn out gazes away from the well polished floor and over at him.

Where he smiled slightly at her then asked her a single question. "Ready to continued?" Where the few words that left his mouth.

Yet it took a few moment before the girl gave him a reply which sounded more then just a little uncertain about this whole thing. "Well not really, truth be told I would give just about everything to be back on the Nirvana right now. But I guess it doesn't really do much good walking around wishing for something like that. So lets just get in there and get this over with" she said, doing nothing to hide how tired she was right now.

Knowing exactly how she felt after everything that had happened today, Hibiki just gave the girl a short agreeable nod.

So with nothing else to say. Both pilots started slowly making their way towards the main part of the library.

Each of them sincerely hoping, that it would not take long to find somebody who could assist them in locating the books they needed to widen their knowledge about this damn world.

Fortunately for them.

It did not take long before they spotted an old grey haired man sitting all by himself, not that far from the entrance reading in a extremely worn-out looking book that had obvious been through a lot before it had ended up here in the library.

Yet once Hibiki and Barnette started approaching him. He carefully closed the large book and looked right up at them. Now just waiting to hear what these two kids was disturbing him for.

And as much as this old bearded fellow reminded Hibiki about his grandpa back home on Taraak.

He knew that now wasn't really the best time to be thinking about him. So he was quick to shake away the many thoughts of the old guy, that had raised him since he woke up from his cold sleep fourteen years ago.

And asked the obviously somewhat impatient librarian about where they could find the books Barnette and him had pretty much been searching for the entire messed up day.

"Do you know where we can find some books about our planets history?" Hibiki asked, instantly making the decision that it was best to pretend that he and Barnette was from this world.

More then a little taken back hearing the boy asked that. The old fellow lean back in his chair with a deeply surprise expression on his old face.

Usually when young people came in here it was to find more recent wrote books. Like once that contented new recipes the girls was eager to try and make for their boyfriends.

And he might not say it out loud but he honestly thought that searching for something like that was a complete waste of time. It wasn't like there was any males left on this planet, that had yet to be surprise by a home-made meal from their girlfriends.

So if anybody actually bothered ask him. He would honestly say it was about time that the many couples around this neighborhood came up with something new. Instead continuing with something so old fashion as making box lunch.

Unfortunately there was simply noway he could tell anybody what he really thought of that old tradition, without fear of getting punished by those love morons over in the next building.

And what kind of idiotic blockhead would actually want to be thrown in prison for a few month. For bad-mouthing this entire supposably sweet and romantic system their highly foolish government had establish.

He did however not thinking long about how much trouble he could get in to. Should he ever decide voice any of his so call rebellious thoughts about Romanchikku's extremely brain dead government, before he again turned his attention back towards the young man and woman standing not that far from him.

"I know exactly where the books you are looking for is, so if you would come with me I'll show!" He growled out.

Then slowly got up on his somewhat unsteady legs.

And began making his way in the direction of a much more well organized group of bookcases. Behaving very much like it did not really matter all that much to him if the young couple followed him or not.

Taking a brief glance over at each other.

Both Nirvana crew members just couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved. That this old fellow wasn't a complete chatterbox that was almost impossible to listen to. And that he apparently had some idea about where he was going.

So not wanting the cranky old man to get too far ahead. The two overly exhausted teens hurried went off after him before he could disappear completely between the large number of bookcases in there.

Fortunately it didn't really take them long before they spotted the cranky librarian standing over by one of the bookcases. Looking slowly through the many thick and thin books gather there.

Yet even when they stepped up behind him.

The old guy did not once turn his slightly nostalgic look away from the many books there. Which was a pretty obvious sign to the two pirates that he frankly preferred the company of the many worn out books, instead of other human beings.

And it was only when Barnette let out a slight cough sound that he finally stopped messing around with all the books and turned his attention back towards them. "So what are you looking for exactly?" He asked sounding more then a little impatient about getting this task over and done with.

He just hoped that these brats wouldn't ask for something that took a whole lot of time to find.

These two kids might have won a tiny bit of his hard earn respect by asking for something else, other then cookbooks and those overly (sicking) romantic novels some of the girls around these parts, apparently liked to read.

But even true a part of him did kinda like this young couple. It most definitely didn't mean he wanted to spend the rest of the day going through the archives searching for whatever books, they wanted.

Yet much to his minor relief the books they asked for, where pretty easy to locate.

"Well it's definitely important that we get something that tells most of Romanchikku's history, and how exactly our society was made!" Barnette said, while trying hard to figure out if there was anything else they needed now that they where currently there.

If there was anyway they could avoid it, she really would prefer not to visit this so-called nightmare of a city again anytime soon. But while the emerald haired woman was slightly distract thinking about all of that.

Her male comrade decided to ask about something else, they could have a need for at some point in the near future.

"And if you have something about the Love-Squadron! We would like to borrow that too gramps" the Vanguard pilot said. Sincerely believing that if they widen their knowledge about this planet's law enforcement.

It would be so much easier for them to avoid being arrest.

Taking a glance back at the boy, the old man narrowed his eyes slightly. "Finding something about them shouldn't really be that difficult. You can barely go anywhere these days without hearing about them!" He said.

And even true the old guy did his best keep it a secret. It wasn't hard for either of the Nirvana crew members to tell. That this barely standing old guy felt a great deal of hostility towards the Love-Squadron.

Which both teens actually thought was kinda nice.

Seeing as everybody else they had meet up until now. Was either a part of the Love-Squadron or just about ready to start worshiping them. So it was a bit of a relief to find somebody around, that did not like how things where done on this world.

And it really served to make the teens wonder if there was anybody else around like this guy. But before they could really give it much thought, the highly cranky man handed the first of many books over to them.

"Don't drop it now, I want it back intact once you are done reading it!" He said in a bossy tone, that couldn't be described as nothing else but serious.

Having realized a little while ago just how important the many books here was to the old geezer. Both of the space pirates did not hesitate in giving him a short nod to that request, as they continued taking whatever books he handed over to them.

And even true the cranky librarian kept on talking and explaining to them what the books he gave them was about.

Neither Hibiki or Barnette had all that much to say through all of this. Seeing as everything they had experienced throughout the day was really starting to take it's toll on them now, each of them was just about ready to pay a small fortune to be back at either the house or preferable the Nirvana.

Fortunately it did not take much longer, before the old guy was finished digging through the many books there. Which meant that it didn't take long before they where heading in the direction of his desk.

"Now I just need to know you names and where you live, then you can get out of here!" He said. Doing nothing to hide how much he was looking forward to see the two of them disappear out of the door.

And even true neither of the pirates like spreading their names around to much, they quickly decided that this guy didn't really seem like the type of person that would walk around telling everybody he meet that the two of them had been in there to borrow a few books.

And once the old geezer dropped down in to his seat again, Hibiki took a single step towards him. "I'm Hibiki Tokai and she is Barnette Orangello and we live..." the blue haired boy started to say when he was loudly interrupted.

"Hey slow down youngster, these old hands doesn't write as fast as they use to!" He said then muttered out a few minor curses, while he slowly scratched down their names on what seemed mostly like a random piece of paper.

After doing that he again looked up at the two teens.

Still looking just as annoyed by their present as he had when they had first shown up. "There we go! Now I just need to know where you live, then all three of us can get on with our lives!" He told them not once moving his gazes away from the paper.

Taking a brief glance over at other each of the teen felt more then a bit uncertain about telling the man that.

But they realized that if they did not tell him this information it was very unlikely that they would be allowed to leave with the huge stack of books in their arms.

So after giving her low lips a tiny bite, Barnette open her mouth and told the man what he wanted to know. "Well at this current moment in time we are helping out at that huge white mansion just outside of town" she said, while thoroughly studying the cranky geezer's face, for any signs that told her that he would use this information against them in someway.

But as far as she could tell he really didn't seem to care all that much about where they lived.

"Hmfm great that's not overly difficult to find. It has actually been a while now since I have last paid my idiotic older brother a visit" he grumbled out displeased.

Making it sound very much like, he didn't really give a damn about being related to that George guy, which the two space pirates had meet only shortly after they had arrived on this planet.

And once he was done writing down anything he needed, he throw the pen down on the desk, then reached over and picked up the old book he had been reading in when Barnette and Hibiki had first gotten there.

And seeing him do that was a pretty obvious sign that he had nothing else to say to either of them.

So while wondering just how exactly somebody could be so angry and negative all the time. Both of the teenagers, turned around and slowly started making their way towards the exit of the library.

Neither one of them saying anything else to the man. Seeing as that would most likely result in him getting even more angry then he was already. And it was only once they stepped back out in to the lobby that Barnette had something to say.

"Damn it's kinda hard to believe. But that old geezer, was actually the most normal person we have meet since entering the city!" The emerald haired woman said in a far away tone.

Slightly amazed that the most cranky individual on the on the entire planet if not the whole universe, was seemingly the one who took the first place for being the most normal one they had meet today.

Everybody else had either been more then a little crazy or highly provoking. Even now as they where slowly walking together out of the library. Barnette couldn't deny how slightly tempted she was to try and find that man Keitaro, and give the grinning bastard a huge piece of her mind.

Yet the thought of getting back to the house and being away from all the lovesick people here in the city.

Was more then enough to make her ignore those temptation and just concentrate on following her quite blue haired friend. In the direction that would take them back to their temporary home.

Yet after walking for a little while in absolute silence she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit worried about Hibiki's lack of things to say. Usually the Vanguard pilot would be talking almost constantly whenever something was bothering him.

Now however he had barely said one word since they left the library. "Are you ok Hibiki? You are awfully quite over there and that's kinda unlike you" Barnette said with a concerned look in both of her purple eyes.

Hearing her ask that.

Hibiki turned and took a look back at the emerald haired woman walking not that far behind him. "It's nothing you should worry about Barnette. I just have a splitting headache right now. And I could honestly use a ice cold glass of water right about now. But never mind that, what about you Barnette? You do look kinda pale over there" he said, generally concerned about the pale looking Dread pilot.

Smiling slightly at him Barnette increased her speed a bit so she ended up walking not far beside him. "I'm fine Hibiki, I'm just so tired right now. It's been a couple of really stressful days" she said, while forcing back a huge yawn that was treating to leave her mouth.

Not having the least bit of trouble getting what the woman meant.

Hibiki nodded slowly in understanding.

"Yeah tell me about, I don't know about you but I really do think we should take the next couple of days off to rest up and recover our strength, for whatever we are going to do next" he said.

Then yawn so loudly that half the city could properly hear it. But he honestly did not really care all that much about that at the moment, the only thing on his mind right now was getting back to their so call home on this world, and his highly comfortable leather couch.

Not having anything against that idea Barnette smiled slightly at the Vanguard pilot. "Well if nothing comes up, that can get us away from this world. You wouldn't get any complains from me about taking it easy the next few days" the girl said sound very worn out and lazy right now.

Happy to hear that she agreed with him without arguing Hibiki took a glance over at her. Where her slightly pale face instantly turned the small smile on his face in to a small frown instead.

She really didn't look so good right now. And he knew that if he had seen emerald haired girl walk around like this back on the Nirvana he would definitely have told her to go see Duelo so he could take a look at her.

Yet with no idea about where the others was at this moment. Pretty much the only option they had was to hurry home so the girl could get some clearly much needed sleep.

And with that in mind he started walking just a tiny bit faster.

Doing his best not to show the Dread pilot, how concerned he was about her right now. He really did not like the pale expression on her face and the way she sound like she was having a difficult time breathing.

'Damn it I really hope she doesn't collapse now. If she does then I have no idea about how the hell I'm suppose to get her and all of the books home' the Mecha pilot thought.

Only to immediately decide a second later that if something like that where to happen, he would just have to leave the books by the side of the road and carry the girl the rest of the way home.

Yet much to his small amazement the emerald haired Dread pilot seemed completely determined to get back to the house on her own and without his help. And even true her stubbornness and her determination to manage this ordeal on her own did win her a great deal of his respect.

Hibiki just couldn't stop himself from getting more and more worried about the highly stubborn girl's well being with every single second that went by.

She seriously did look awful right now.

And after watching her a short while longer he moved a bit closer to her and pull the few books she was carrying out of her hands. Sincerely hoping that by removing the huge load from her, would make it easier for the woman to handle the short distance they had left to go before they got home.

Not totally sure if she was happy about Hibiki's assistance.

Barnette used the next couple seconds to glare at the man, as she tried to decide if she should complain about his help or just keep his mouth shut. Yet thanks to the minor dizzy spell that went through her.

The prideful girl made the decision to be quiet for now and just concentrate on moving one foot after another.

Fortunately much to both of their relief. It did not take long before both of them could see their temporary home not that far ahead of them. "We are almost there so just hold out a bit longer woman!" Hibiki told her.

Then took yet another another worried glance back at his female comrade.

She however didn't really do anything to show if she had heard him or not.

She just continued walking onward towards the small house with short highly unsteady steps. Which really show Hibiki how much she was in the need of either sitting down somewhere or even get in to a bed, and get some much needed rest.

And once they reached the front porch.

Hibiki immediately placed the huge load of books there and hurried got the door open. Making it so Barnette could get inside, before she actually collapsed out there from whatever was wrong with her.

And when the extremely pale looking woman went right past him.

She quietly mumbled out a small thank you and then a goodnight, as she walked directly past him towards the bedroom. Apparently more then just a little determined to get in to her bed as quickly as possible.

"Hmm I really hope she is feeling better tomorrow, I'm not really keen on reading all of these damn books on my own" the Vanguard pilot whispered to himself. Even true deep inside, he was sincerely hoping that there wasn't anything serious wrong with the highly cranky woman.

Yet after thinking about what could be wrong with Barnette for an unknown number of seconds. The blue haired boy reluctantly realized that it wouldn't really do him much good to keep on standing around out there worrying about his female friend.

So after picking up the many books again. He slowly stepped inside the house and used his left foot to kick the door shut behind him.

To be continued.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys. I apologize for the long delay with this chapter. It's just that whenever I want to write on any of my stories, I usually go for my Gundam Seed story, We Met Two Years Ago.

Hopefully it wouldn't take me nearly as long, to finish the next chapter of this story.

Chapter 5

It was early morning after Hibiki's and Barnette's trip to Blossom.

But even true the house was as quiet as it could possibly be. The blue haired young man, who was currently resting on the leather couch, was wide awake looking straight up at the dark ceiling with a far away expression on his face.

Everything that had happened yesterday had really taken a toll on him, and he was in no big hurry to leave his resting place. Truth be told he honestly wouldn't mind spending the rest of the day there on the couch, doing nothing at all other then being lazy.

That was frankly one of those things. He did not have much time to do since joining up with the female pirates.

There was always something going on, either with the Harvest fleet or Meia's obsession to have them train constantly. And if he finally had some free time. It was usually spend on avoiding the crazy UFO girl.

"Man I seriously need to talk with the old hag about getting a couch like this on the Nirvana. This thing is even more cozy then my own bed" the boy said, then moved around a bit, to get even more comfortable on the highly expensive piece of furniture.

Unfortunately he did however not get long to dream about having a couch such as this, back home on the Nirvana. Before he felt the need of having to pay the bathroom a small visit.

And that was more then enough to make a deep unhappy frown ran over his forehead. "Damn it, I really don't feel like leaving this place" he mumbled to himself.

Then kicked the thick blanket away and stood up from the couch. Where he immediately stretched both of his arms up over his head. And let out a huge yawn, which could easily be heard through the entire house. After that he slowly began making his way through the dim lighted room, he had been sleeping in.

Yet just when he was about to enter the bathroom to take care of what business he had in there. Hibiki suddenly heard the only other person in the small house, coughing loudly.

And while that would under normal circumstance not have worried him all that much. The mere knowledge, that Barnette had been feeling more then just a little bad, when they had gotten back 'home' yesterday. Made Hibiki give his lower lips a hard worried bite.

"Damn I was kinda hoping that she was feeling better today" the boy growled softly, before he change his direction and began heading towards the bedroom.

But while the young mechanic was sincerely worried about his female comrade's health. It was just impossible for Hibiki, not to hesitate a few seconds about entering the room without getting permission first.

It had after all provide him with more then his fair share of trouble. The last time he just happened to enter a woman's room without asking.

And just thinking about that not so fortunate incident. With him stumbling accidently in to Celtic's chamber. And ending up with his head, press tightly up against the weird green haired girl's, soft buttocks. And those thoughts alone, was more then enough, to make Hibiki blush severely and almost violently shake his head. In a small attempt to get his thoughts away, from his so call 'encounter' with the cosplaying woman.

Actually now that he was thinking about it. Hibiki came to the realization that he was kinda fortunate to have been able to leave Celtic's room, without a broken bone or two.

It didn't really take much of a genius to figure out, that if he had enter either Meia's or Barnette's chamber in such a manner. They would most likely have strangle him without a second thought. And knowing that, just served to make Hibiki all the more nervous about opening the wooden door, he was now standing directly in front of.

"Perhaps I should just leave her alone. I'm sure she will (properly) be feeling much better after getting some rest" the boy said quietly to himself. Yet just when he was about to step away from the door again. He once more heard a great deal of coughing from inside the small bedroom.

"Ahhh damn it. Jura will never forgive me should anything bad happen to Barnette!" He growled out. And while sincerely hoping that this wouldn't end up with him, getting a nasty bump on his head. He reached out after the round door knob.

Yet once the teenage stepped in to the small room.

The sight before him immediately made him forget all about being punch, or whatever Jura would do to him should Barnette be harm in anyway while the two of them where trapped there together. "Holy crap she is even more pale now then she was yesterday when we got home" the blue haired boy said. Just before he hastily rushed straight over to the huge bed.

Where he spend the next couple of seconds, looking the emerald haired girl over. Her face was almost ghostly white now, and there was a great deal of sweat gathered on her forehead.

"Just where the hell is Duelo when you really need him?" The slightly panicky man growled out. Just before he hesitantly reached up and gently used his right sleeve, to brush away some of the fluid on Barnette's face.

But it was only once the blue haired man was finished with that small task, that he saw that both of the woman's purple eyes was now open, and staring directly up at him. And just seeing the completely exhaust look in them, was enough to make him bite his lower lips quite hard.

Just as a few barely understandable words left her mouth. "I...I don't feel...so...good moron..." she whispered. Only to turn over and fall back asleep immediately afterwards.

Narrowing both of his eyes slightly at that remark. Hibiki really wasn't sure, if he should feel insulted or amazed right now. "Even when she is obviously feeling like crap, she still got enough energy to insult me. I really don't understand women at all" he growled softly to himself. Then hurried turned around and began making his way towards the kitchen, to get her some cold water to drink, and a wet cold cloth to her almost boiling forehead.

Yet even as he was busy gathering together everything he could think of that might help the emerald haired girl feel better.

Hibiki did of course realized that there was still the possibility, that Barnette would need some kind of doctor to take a look at her. Which once more lead the Mecha pilot to loudly curse the fact, that Duelo and even that annoying brat Paiway was so far away right now.

"Ahhh the next time I see those Harvest bastards I'm seriously going to make them pay, for sending us to this hell hole" he cursed angrily.

Just before he almost violently tore open the refrigerator to see if there was anything in there Barnette could eat, incase she got hungry. Unfortunately the only food he could find in there was a couple of chocolate bars, and a half eaten pizza that had obviously been in there way to long.

Not really something anybody would want to eat, even if they where healthy.

So while quickly shoving what little that remained of pizza down in to the small waste basket underneath the kitchen sink. Hibiki could not help but growled out a few more unhappy words. "Ahh damn it all! Ain't we just the most clever people around. We go to (properly) the most crazy and bizarre city in existence, and what do we get there? A ton of useless old books, but nothing to eat" he muttered bitterly. Seriously piss about the fact that neither him nor Barnette, had thought about getting some food, while they where in Blossom.

And while he kept on mentally complaining about that. The Vanguard pilot began making his way back to the bedroom. Where he could once more hear the emerald haired woman coughing loudly. It really did sound like Barnette was in a great deal of pain right now. Which served to make Hibiki, even more worried about the short tempered Dread pilot.

"I really don't like the sound of that...I just have to somehow get a hold on a doctor. Perhaps the old man and woman, knows somebody they could call" Hibiki whispered. Absolutely determined to go talk with them. Once he had brought Barnette everything he had found in the kitchen.

Once back in the bedroom. Hibiki immediately step over to the bed where he hand the glass of water, to the yet again wide awake, girl. Who took it with a small thank you.

Yet just before she could get the glass up to her mouth. Barnette got another loud fit of coughing. Which would most likely have made her drop, the glass if Hibiki hadn't taken it from her.

And as Hibiki stood there staring at her with a deeply concerned look, in each one of his eyes. Barnette, who truly was grateful for the blue haired man's help. Also felt a tiny bit embarrassed, about Hibiki seeing her in such a weaken state. He was after all one of the Nirvana's prisoners. And she really didn't like showing any kind of weakness to the enemy.

Yet all of those hostile thoughts instantly disappeared from her mind. When Hibiki place a cold wet cloth, against her forehead. And gently washed away the great deal of sweat that had gather there.

"Thank you...coul...could you please hand me the glass of water again?" She request barely in a whisper, when she was at least for a brief moment, done coughing.

Not doing anything to hide his concern. Hibiki handed her the glass one more time. Then watched quietly as she swallowed the glass' contents like a person who had been wandering around a desert the last few days.

And once the glass was empty. The emerald haired girl handed the glass back to the boy, then laid back down on the bed without saying a word.

Narrowing both of his eyes slightly at that. Hibiki seriously didn't like that she was so quiet. Normally, Barnette always had a few mean comments, to say to him. And it was kinda weird not having her do that.

Actually now that Hibiki gave it a little thought, a part of him did kinda miss arguing with, the emerald haired girl. He like it so much better when, she was full of energy and ready to start bickering with him at any moment. Instead of like this, where she could badly sit up straight.

Then after watching the sick woman quietly, a few seconds longer. He let out a short breath, before he began talking to the girl, in a gentle tone. "I'll go ask the old man and woman, if they know a doctor, who can come here to take a look at you"

Hearing Hibiki say that. Barnette tried her best to glare up at him. "I...I don't need a doctor...I just need to get some sleep..." she growled out through a couple of loud coughs.

Raising his left eyebrow slight at those words. "Yeah right. You might as well try to convince me, that you don't find Paiway's Pai-checks, annoying" Hibiki said back. Then before Barnette could complain any further, about him trying to get a hold on a doctor. The young Mecha pilot swirled around, and hastily left the room.

"My God that man is just such an idiot at times..." the deeply pale woman mumbled to herself. Even true deep inside she realized, that she was actually kinda happy about Hibiki being there. Barnette might not say it out loud. But she never liked being alone when she was sick. And while she really did wish that Jura was there, right now. There was just no denying, that Hibiki was doing everything he could, to help her out. And it truly was nice to know, that he was so concerned about her wellbeing.

Then after listening to the sounds of him leave the house. Barnette pressed her face back down in to the pillow. Where she let out a small sigh then tried hard to get back to sleep. With the way she was feeling right now. She really didn't want to be awake. She just want to sleep the rest of the day away.

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Meanwhile outside.

Hibiki raced hastily towards the main house. Seriously hoping that the old guy and the woman, knew somebody who could help out, Barnette. She really had sounded terrible, when he had left the house. Almost like she had spend a big part of her life, working down in one of the many mines on Taraak. And had never once tried breathing clean air.

And just thinking about how sick those third class citizens, who work down in the mineral mines back home, could be. Was enough, to make the young man speed up even further.

Once over by the main entrance to the house. He used a few short seconds to regain his breath, before he knocked loudly on the door. Yet much to his deep annoyance he got no response. Which made him curse softly under his breath.

"Damn it, where are they? If they are out, then what the hell am I suppose to do. It will take way to long to go all the way to Blossom. And even if I went there, I have no idea about where to find a doctor in that crazy town" he said to himself. Before he once again knock strongly on the door. Almost making it sound like he was trying to break it down.

It was at that point the door was opened and he saw Selphy looking at him with a tired expression on her face. "Hibiki do...do you have any idea what time it is? What are you doing here so early?" The old woman asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

Having actually no idea about what time it was. Hibiki took a short glance upwards where he immediately noticed that the sky, was still slightly dark and gloomy. "I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the morning. But Barnette is sick. And I was kinda hoping you guys knew a doctor, who could come here to take a look at her!" He practically yelled in to the old woman's face.

Hearing the boy's reason for waking up her, and George. The cranky look on Selphy's face, was instantly replaced by a much more gentle one.

"I see. I'll go call Dr Cornwell right away. Knowing her, it wouldn't take her all that long, to get out here. You just hurry back home Hibiki, and keep a close eye on your girlfriend. If anybody should be there for her right now, it should be you Hibiki" the woman said in a slightly bossy.

And seeing as it was clearly going to start raining very soon now. Hibiki quietly decide to do what Selphy had just said. He seriously didn't feel like getting totally soaked right now. And so, while wondering briefly, what the heck a girlfriend was. Hibiki began making his way back to the house he had been living in together with Barnette, the last two days.

000000

The very first thing Hibiki did when he step through the front door, to his and Barnette's temporary home. Was head straight to the bedroom to see how the emerald haired Dread pilot, was doing. Yet one small peek, in to the bedroom was all he need to tell that Barnette was asleep again.

And while Hibiki was far from a medical genius. He knew that getting plenty of rest should help Barnette get better. And with that in mind he quietly snuck back out of the room. Determined to go eat one of those chocolate bars, he had found in the refrigerator not long ago.

Which meant that it did not take very long, before he was sitting silently on the leather couch. Eating what could only be describe as a very poor excuse for a meal. Especially when considering his enormous appetite. But at least it was better then nothing.

"We need to somehow get a hold on some food. Otherwise I'm going to die of hunger" the Mecha pilot muttered, as he picked up the TV remote. Then began zapping around, hoping to find a cartoon show, or something else he could watch, while eating his so-called breakfast.

Fortunately it did not take long before he found something he could watch.

It was about a nerdy looking guy, living in a house full of women. And as he saw an egg like robot. That kinda reminded him a bit of Pyoro, kiss a black haired woman, dressed in a white and red kendo uniform. Hibiki could not help but chuckle slightly. Especially once he saw how unbelievable angry, she got afterwards.

Hibiki did however not get long to enjoy the show. When someone rang on the doorbell. Which instantly made him turn off the TV again, and throw the remote on the couch.

And having a pretty good about who was ringing the doorbell. He practically ran over to the door. And immediately pull it open. Where he saw a woman with short curly blue hair, and red eyes. She had a few wrinkles under her eyes, which made Hibiki believe she was about half as old, as the old woman back on the Nirvana.

Yet what he really found weird about this woman, was that she wasn't dress nearly as neat, as everybody else on this lovesick planet. She had on a blue pair of pants, a black sweater, and a white medical coat that looked very much like the one Duelo was always wearing.

"I am doctor Tabitha Cornwell. Where is the patient?" She asked. Sounding very much like she had actually rehearsed saying that.

Something the blue haired Vanguard pilot quickly decide that it was a bad idea to comment on right now. This woman was after all here to help Barnette out. "She is in the bedroom, sleeping" he said, pointing in the direction of the bedroom.

Nodding briefly at that. The blue haired woman step past him, without saying another word. Yet just before she enter the bedroom she gave him a look that made it perfectly clear to him. That he was to wait out here, until she call him.

After that, the doctor step in to the bedroom, and slammed the wooden door shut behind her. 'And I thought Meia was cold. This woman seemed ready to tear my head of at any moment...I don't think I'll ever understand women' the blue haired teenage thought. And so while still trying to make just a little sense of probably the biggest mystery, in the known universe.

Hibiki turned around, and slowly made his way back to the living room. He did however not very far, before he heard Barnette complain loudly back in the bedroom. Most likely about being woken up.

"Ahhh stop your bellyaching girl. You can go back to sleep, once I am done looking you over" Hibiki heard the doctor's voice yell. Just before he pick up the TV remote and turned the television back on.

Unfortunately much to his small disappointment. That show he had watched before had ended, and the canal was now showing some weird quiz show that frankly got very boring very quickly.

Yet before he even had time to consider changing the canal. Hibiki heard the doctor's 'friendly' voice practically scream for him to get his ass down to the bedroom.

'Holy crap! What the heck, crawl up her ass and died?' That question was the only thing on Hibiki's mind. As he a tiny bit reluctantly, made his way back to Barnette's room. And as he step inside the small chamber, he saw his emerald haired friend sitting up on the bed. Still looking just as pale, as the last time he had seen her.

Yet what really caught Hibiki's attention was the short temper doctor. She was just standing there, slowly opening and closing her mouth, like a fish out of water. And she kept on looking between the two of them, with a look of pure and utter shock on her face. It was almost seemed like she had just seen a ghost.

"You...you two are...off-worlders..." she exclaimed in a whisper after a few seconds of unbelievable tense silence.

Hearing her say those word. Hibiki and Barnette, immediately send one another a short glance, each of them hoping that the other had some sort of idea. To deal with this situation.

"You are wrong doc. Barnette and I are not off-worlders, we are just your normal everyday couple!" Hibiki insist a bit to loud.

Glaring angrily at him for a bit, the doctor step a bit closer to him. "Don't you lie to me boy. The reason why, your girlfriend here is sick, is because there is a special pollen on this world, that makes everybody who hasn't been vaccine for it at birth, experience the kind of syndromes this girl has now. Besides she does not have an emotion chip place in the back of her neck. Which makes it safe to assume, that you do not have one either boy" the doctor said. Then reached up and rubbed her forehead in a thoughtful manner. Obviously thinking very hard about something.

And with her momentarily distract. Barnette and Hibiki looked over at each other again, each of them with a questionable expression on their faces. And finally after a few seconds Hibiki swallowed loudly a single time. Then asked the question, both he and Barnette was most curious about.

"What the heck is an emotion chip?"

Quickly snapping back out of her deep thoughts. The doctor gave the boy a deeply serious look. "Weeell...I don't really have all the details about it. But apparently when these people got here, after leaving Earth, there weren't that many of them. So to make sure that they didn't become extinct, a pair of scientist invent what they call the emotion chip. Whenever a new child is born on this world, it doesn't take many days, before an emotion chip gets implant in the back of the kid's neck. And once that individual grows older, and reach it's teenage's years. The emotion chip, will automatically find the person of the opposite gender he or she, is most compatible with. And then practically force the two of them to fall in-love. Even if they haven't even met each other before." the blue haired woman explained. While staring down at the floor.

Having now heard why practically everybody on this planet was in a relationship. The two Nirvana crew members was totally silent for who knew how long. Each one of them trying hard, to deal with what they had just been told.

"That...that's just sick! I myself have never be in-love before. But I really don't think it's right to just program emotions like that, in to somebody's brain and heart. Falling in-love should come naturally! Not forced on to one by a dumb microchip!" Hibiki shouted loudly. Doing nothing to hide that he was almost ready to give away his left arm and leg to get off this truly grotesque planet.

Also deeply shock over what she and Hibiki had just learnt about the people on this world. Barnette Orangello, had to force herself, not to throw up right then and there.

"You mean that the people living here on this world actually brainwash, their own childen?" The emerald haired Dread pilot asked. While it was true, that Barnette had thought right from the beginning, that the love freaks living on this world, was crazy. She just could not fathom, what kind of parents, would stand by quietly, while their kid got implant with a devise, that was meant to alter and control their emotions in such a way, that they might actually fall in-love with somebody they didn't know.

Knowing better then most how utterly disturbing all of this could be. Tabitha was quick to decide, that it was wise to give the two youngsters, a little time to comprehend, everything she had just told them. And once she saw the girl raised her gaze and look over at her again, she continued.

"That is pretty much how things work on this world. I don't know what the two of you have been doing since you got here. But I seriously hope that you where clever enough, to behave like a couple in-love if you went anywhere together. And I strongly advise you that you keep on doing that. The people down here, don't really like it if somebody stands out and breaks their so-called order of things, even if it's not done intentionally. When my escape-pod crash here three years ago, I spend the first year here in prison, for not having the emotion chip. It was only thanks to Selphy and George, that I did not end up getting execute in the end" Tabitha said. With a look in her eyes that made it clear to both Nirvana crew members, that she really didn't like being on this planet.

Scratching the back of his neck thoughtfully. Hibiki asked yet another question he was curious about. "What exactly happens to the parents, if they refuse, having a chip implant in their kid? With how utterly mess up this place is. It's hard to image that the punishment for refusing, is lenient" the boy said. As he drop down on the bed beside Barnette.

"You got that right boy. If the parents refuse the implant, they will face a very long time, in prison. And if they try to remove, the chip afterwards. They will be execute. Fortunately that hasn't happened in the time I have been here" the doctor explained to the young man and woman..

After that nothing else was said for a very long time. Yet once Barnette got another fit of loud coughing. Tabitha pick up her black medical bag and start searching around for something, down in it. And once she finally found what she had been looking for, the blue haired woman began carefully preparing the vaccine for the two teens.

"So...where exactly are the two of you from? And how did you get here? As far as I knew, my escape pod was the last thing that crash on this hellhole, of a world..." she said somewhat absent mind. It was pretty obvious that most of her attention was currently on getting the medicine ready.

With everything the short temper doctor had told Barnette and him. Hibiki figured that they did own her a response, to what she was asking. "I am form Taraak, and Barnette is from Mejare"

Hearing the young man say that. Tabitha found it impossible, to keep herself from letting out a loud laughter. "Heh, knowing how much those two planets dislike the opposite gender. It might take you guys awhile, to get use to living here. This world is preeetty much the complete opposite, of where you came from"

Knowing that the other woman was right about that. Barnette looked down in to the bed. The young emerald haired Dread pilot of course knew, that she had been having her fair share of trouble, getting along with the Nirvana's male crew members.

Especially Hibiki. No matter how she looked at it, she just couldn't help but find him annoying for some reason. Yet with everything he had done for her today. Barnette could not help but feel slightly guilty about that.

'Jura has told me quite a few times that Hibiki ain't such a bad guy. So why the heck? Am I having such a tough time, getting along with him. Even Meia seems to like the guy. And knowing her, that does have to be some kind of miracle. So maybe I should...should try and cut the guy a little slack. It just that...that...he's so annoyi...eem...God I feel so tired...I want to go back to sleep' the emerald haired pilot thought. Looking longingly down at her soft pillow.

Yet as younger one of the two women in the room, was thinking about how much she truly want to sleep the rest of the day away. Hibiki began explaining how, the two of them had end up there.

Listening carefully to everything Hibiki was telling her. Tabitha narrowed each one of her red eyes hatefully. When she heard that it was one of the Harvest fleets' device, that had teleport them to this world.

"Ahh damn it all. I had seriously hoped, that somebody had been able to take out the Earth's Harvest fleet by now. Haven't those things, destroyed enough already?!" Tabitha growled hatefully. No matter how much time went by, the blue haired woman would never forgive Earth, for what they had done to her home world Pluto. And it rarely happened that a day went by, where she did not think about, what had happened to her niece, Misty. Who had also been able to escape from Pluto.

And so while mentally cursing Earth, for all the suffering it had caused, to who knew how many people. The blue haired doctor, reach over and took a hold on Barnette's left arm. "This is going to sting a tiny bit girl. But there is no way around it"

"I know just...just hurry up and get it over with. I can barely keep my eyes open" Barnette said. Yet even true the emerald haired woman had mentally prepare herself for the injection. She could not help but wrench slightly, when the other woman pierced her skin, with a tiny needle, and inject the vaccine in to her.

After that Barnette used a few seconds, to rub her arm. "Thank you doc" she whispered. Then drop back down on to the bed again. Resting her tired head against the fluffy pillow.

Watching the younger woman quietly for a short moment or two. Tabitha turned, and carefully got rid of the hypodermic needle, she had just used on Barnette. Then pick up the second one she had prepared.

"Ok boy now it's your turn" she informed the blue haired man, who swiftly took a long step backwards. Clearly wanting, some distance between the two of them.

Seriously not liking the sight of the hypodermic needle. Hibiki could not, help but consider the idea of getting the hell out of the bedroom, as fast as his legs could carry him.

"My name is Hibiki, and I...I don't need the vaccine!" He said loudly doing nothing to hide that he was ready to hightail it out of there at any moment.

Rolling her eyes a single time, at the young man's cowardly behavior, over the small needle. "Just so you know boy. The people who takes longer to react to the pollen, are usually the once, who ends up in the worst condition. So stop being a chicken, and get your ass over here and get the vaccine. I don't have all day" the doctor ordered in a tone, that left little room for disagreement.

Swallowing loudly a single time. Hibiki stretch out his arm towards the cranky woman. And when she roll up his sleeve, the nervous young man immediately closed both of his eyes tightly. Behaving quite a bit like, he expect the doctor to amputate the arm, instead of just giving him the vaccine.

"Just relax boy. It's only going to hurt for a moment, then it will be over" the doctor said, sounding a bit like, she was talking to a small child. While it was true that she found the young man's half-witted behave somewhat silly. It was not like Tabitha actually enjoyed scaring her patients.

And once the older woman saw Hibiki, or whatever his name was. Turn slightly to the side and look out of the window, in a clear attempt to try and distract himself. Tabitha pierced the skin on his arm, as gentle as she possibly could. Then hurried, inject the vaccine in to him. Before he had the chance to start complaining about the pain.

"There, that wasn't so bad now was it?" The doctor asked.

Glaring quietly down at the spot, where the blue haired woman had pocket him with the hypodermic needle only a few short seconds ago. Hibiki reached up, and gently rubbed his arm. "I guess I kinda overreact a bit. I just don't like needles" he said, feeling slightly embarrassed about his frightened behaviour. Thankfully Barnette was already sound asleep again. For some reason which he just couldn't explain. Hibiki did NOT want her, to see him act all cowardly, over something as insignificant, as a needle.

Yet after wondering a bit, why the heck it was so damn important to him, that he put on a brave face, in front of the irritating, emerald haired woman. Hibiki rapidly shook his head a few times, to get his bewildered thoughts away from the sleeping girl. Not that he had, a whole lot of luck with that. No matter how hard he tried, it was just impossible for him, not to worry about Barnette right now. And he sincerely hoped, that the vaccine would help her feel better.

So after standing there a bit longer just staring at Barnette's sleeping face. The blue haired boy turned around, and rushed hastily out of the room.

Seeing him do that. Tabitha smirked slightly to herself, as she carefully gather the medical equipment she had used. 'Hmm he cares more about the girl, then he is willing to admit' she thought, while following him slowly out of the small room. And it did not take long, before she found him in the kitchen drinking a glass of much needed water.

"You and the girl should take it easy the next week or so, boy. After that you should start feeling much better" the blue haired lady explained. While pulling of the two rubber gloves, she had put on, before examining Barnette. And as she threw them out. She saw Hibiki nod slowly a single time in understanding.

"I'm all up for taking it easy. But the thing is. I did kinda promise the old couple to help out in their garden, for me and Barnette living here. And I really, don't want to ignore that promise for a whole week" the boy said in a tone, that would made it clear for just about anybody, how much he disliked breaking his promises.

Smiling slightly at that. "I understand that boy. But the vaccine needs time to work, and do it's job. And if you rush around doing a whole ton of things, in that period, you might just end up collapsing from exhaustion. And I honestly do think that both Selphy and George, would prefer to avoid that"

Then after taking a deep breath she continued. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'll go talk with them about it. I'll just tell them, that you and Barnette both have a cold. I really hate having to lie to them, after everything they have done for me, since I got here. But it's not like we can actually tell the two of them, that the reason why you two are sick, is because you have never gotten that vaccine"

Nodding slowly at those words. Hibiki did not say anything back, for a few long seconds. He just stood there staring intensely down at the floor, with a far away expression on his face. He really want to disagree, with the doctor and tell her that he was going to be just fine, and that he would not collapse from working in a garden. But in the end he could not ignore the deep desire he felt, to get back on the couch and just sleep the rest of the day away.

"Once you do talk with the old couple. Please tell them, I am sorry about not doing my job..." Hibiki said through a loud yawn, that made it a bit difficult to understand, what he was saying.

"I'll make certain to tell them that, Hibiki. Now I would normally be asking for payment at this point. But seeing as I kinda doubt that either of you, have any of Romanchikku's currency. I'll just settle for visiting you guys from time to time. I haven't talked with anybody, who weren't totally crazy about love and relationships, for three years now. And I reeallly could use somebody normal to talk with. Besides, I am more then a little curious about everything you two can tell me about the Harvest fleet" the blue haired woman said.

Frankly unable to deny, how utterly tempt she was to ask Hibiki, if he knew anything about how big the Harvest fleet was now. But since the boy, was obviously ready to fall asleep standing up. Tabitha quickly decide, that since she had been patient for three whole years now. She could live another week or two without that knowledge.

And so with nothing else to say to the exhaust young man. Tabitha slowly turned around, and was just about to leave the small kitchen. When Hibiki's stomach, let out a loud growling sound. Which made it highly obvious, that he hadn't gotten anything to eat, for quite awhile. And since it was so rare that anybody lived in Selphy and George's guest house. It did not take a genius to figure out, that the refrigerator was most likely empty.

"Once I'm finish with what else I need to do today. I'll come back here with some food, for you guys. But don't stay up waiting for me, I don't know how much time I will need, with my other patients. You just make sure to get plenty of rest now Hibiki, while I am gone" she ordered loudly. Then hurried left the house, before Hibiki could think of anything to say back to her.

Hearing the door being shut behind the doctor. Hibiki, slowly shook his head a few times. "Geez...women are just so weird. Why can't they make just a little more sense?" The boy asked himself. As he made his way back to the leather couch. Where he practically fell head first, down in to the pillow.

And after using a few seconds to get comfortable. It did not take very long before Hibiki was snoring softly.


End file.
